Get Over It
by R.G. Waffles
Summary: When the gang raises enough money to go on a winter vacation in a cabin next to the mountains, the heat between two greasers gets turned up more than asked for, and they end up fighting for their lives when they're stranded after an avalanche.
1. Savings

**Reham:** Hey y'all! I'm back with a new story!  
**Steve:** I know this one is going to suck because your going to try and make meand the bastard get along.  
**Pony:** This should be fun to watch  
**Steve: **They can't watch it, dumbass - you have to read  
**Reham:** I know that most of the people on this "Outsiders" section hate Steve because Pony hates him, but I don't think that's fair to him, so I'm going to try a weak attempt to change your point of views. Steve should be liked as an equal character. Just because the main character of the book doesn't like him doesn't mean that you shouldn't.  
**Two-Bit:** But this is a funny story - please read it!  
**Soda:** **--gasp--** Two-Bit said please!  
**Dally:** THE OPOCALYPSE! THE OPOCALYPSE!  
**Johnny:** I'm going to go get Dally's medication  
**Pony: **Reham doesn't own us, or S.E. Hinton's writings, or anything but her possessions  
**Darry: **That did not make any sense what-so-ever.

…**:Savings:…**

**:Darry's PoV:**

I was just waiting for the boys to come back with the news. It was going to be great news, anyway. Since the beginning of the year, each of the gang has been saving their money for this day. And when Soda and Steve came back with their paycheck, we'd add all the money up to see if we had enough for my grand idea.

Two-Bit was sitting on the couch, accompanied by Johnny and Dally, and was holding a beer to his mouth as his eyes watched the TV in his "Mickey Mouse trance". Ponyboy was sitting on the floor with his head stuck in a book, his favorite at that. I was about to tell him to turn on a light because his eyes would hurt when the front door was slammed open.

"We got it!" came Steve's triumphant voice. He pushed Soda forward with a grin on his face. Soda was holding a piece of paper in his hand and a goofy grin was plastered onto his face. He stumbled forward like he was drunk, which I well knew he wasn't, and handed the paper to me.

"You guys all wait in the room while I count up the money," I said to everyone in the house at the moment. Everyone nodded absentmindedly because they were all too absorbed with the TV, or in Pony's case, a book. I strode back into the kitchen where several money bills and papers were piled up.

Pony and Johnny weren't able to get any money, seeing as they were still in school and didn't have a job. Soda and Steve got their money from their work, and they've been good little angels this year to get paid extra. Dally got his money from riding in rodeos – and that brought in a lot, seeing as most of the rodeos were fixed so he would always win (but everyone knew he would try his hardest and _honestly_ rode the horses for the fun of it). And Two-Bit got his money from only God knows where. I, of course, got my money from my work.

I sat at the table and counted it all up. I had a paper with me to do the math. First I added up Dally's money and it came up to be more than what I expected. I was already at half of what I wanted! Then came Two-Bit's money and that was an excellent amount – I wondered where he got it all from. I counted Bevis and Butthead's money next, and already we were over the amount of money needed. So that all came down with my amount and I knew we had extra money. This was going to be a winter vacation no one was going to forget.

I walked back into the living room with a smile on my face. I walked over to the TV and shut it off, causing Two-Bit to playfully kick me from the couch. "Why'd you cut off Mickey?" he asked jokingly.

"Because, stupid, I've got the news."

"Oooooooooh."

I swear, sometimes Two-Bit is just the stupidest person in the world. "Before Mr. Mickey over here interrupted me, I was about to tell you all about the trip. Thanks to everyone, we've made more than enough money for the vacation I've planned."

There was a round of whoops and cheers and then everyone silenced. "So what's the trip gonna be, Dar?" Dally asked me.

"We're going to be staying in a cabin on the mountains to go fishing, hiking, etc . . . where us Greasers can just have a carefree Soc week. No Socs, no rumbles, no nothing but campfires, playing dirty jokes on each other, s'mores, and scary stories!"

I knew everyone was in awe. They just didn't think of me as the kind of person that would do something like that, but I just wowed them. Heck, everyone needed a break. I arranged with Soda and Steve's boss a few days ago to let the two off for the entire winter vacation and he miraculously agreed. Then I had to get it past my boss, which also agreed, although reluctantly. Two-Bit's mom was the easiest – she even joked with me that it would be grateful to have Two-Bit out of the house for a week. I didn't even bother going to Dally's, Johnny's, and Steve's parents, seeing as they wouldn't give a hang.

Two-Bit stood up and walked over to me, pretending to knock on my head. "'Scuse me, but is Mr. Darrel Curtis in there? 'Cause I think he took a trip down town and ain't comin' back for a while," he said, which sent the rest of the gang into fits of laughter. I even had to grin at that.

I took his hand and twisted it around his back playfully. "I told you we all needed a break," I said as I pushed him into Dally. Dally shoved him over onto the floor and we all broke out into laughter when Johnny "accidentally" kicked him while getting up for a piece of cake.

"So when are we leavin'?" asked Soda.

"Tomorrow," I started, "at seven thirty in the morning."

I got grumbles from that. "Darry, you know I can't wake up 'til five in the afternoon," Two-Bit said, only half-jokingly.

"C'mon guys. It's gonna be fun!" said Soda. Good ol' Soda. I knew if he was in, everyone else would follow – especially Two-Bit, who would follow what everyone was doing in a heartbeat, even if it was pounding yourself with your Aunt's fruitcake.

"I want everyone to go home right now and start packing. Bring some heavy clothing 'cause it's all snow up in the mountains, and probably your toothbrushes, other clothing, some food, and whatever other junk you need. Then when you're finished, you come back here and sleep over. Is that clear?"

"If Darry's in charge of this trip, I think it's gonna feel like boot camp," grumbled Steve jokingly.

I swatted him across the head half-playfully when he exited. Then I turned back to everyone else. Two-Bit had turned on the TV again and everyone was looking at it like it was a talking dog with tap shoes on and it just started playing poker with its friends. "Get goin' everybody!" I shouted. Two-Bit scrambled up from the couch and ran off, but not before going to the refrigerator and grabbing a beer, which caused Soda to laugh. Dally grabbed Johnny and walked out, leaving only what was left of my family.

"Hey, that don't leave you two off the hook," I commented.

"Aw, c'mon Darry, can't you just pack for us?" asked Soda with a fake pleading look.

"Move it, little man."

Soda got up and put on a mock hurt glance as he passed me. Ponyboy closed his book and smiled at me before going into his room. This was going to be one hell of a trip.

I started packing my essentials, and when I was finished with that, I monitored my brothers' so that they packed all of the right things. It was a good thing I did, because Soda packed all of his T-shirts and wife beaters in there, and there wasn't a single long-sleeved shirt to be sighted. So I took his bag, flipped it upside down, and dumped all of its contents onto his and Pony's bed. Then I went through the closet he shared with Pony and took all of the heavy clothing out. I threw it to him and he stuffed it into his carrying bag.

Ponyboy's packing was nothing I had to worry about. He was a smart kid and took everything that I would have recommended. I smiled at Soda's fussing and walked out of the door, telling Pony to keep an eye out for his brother.

Fifteen minutes later, I was in my armchair reading the morning's news (which unsurprisingly, I hadn't had time to read). Pony had resumed his place by the couch with his book and Soda was setting up the table with cards for a poker game. He had taken an extra deck in his backpack in case he got bored.

"Hey Darry, did you get any food for the trip?" he asked me as he placed one more chair at the table.

"I got everything, don't worry. And I've hidden it so you won't be able to find it." That was true. I had packed marshmallows and chocolate and graham crackers, as well as the other snacks we'd need. But knowing Soda, he would try and find the marshmallows, so I hid it all in only a certain place – and I won't tell you, either!

The door opened and Steve came in with a new bruise on his cheek and a single bulging bag on his shoulders. I hoped he'd packed enough things for the coldness – I didn't want any of the gang to freeze up on the mountains because it was my idea. He put his bag down by the couch and plopped himself onto the couch tiredly.

"Hey Steve, did you meet a Soc on your way?" Soda asked as he came in while shuffling the deck in his hands. "You got a tuff bruise on your cheek, did you know that?"

"Yeah, I knew that," said Steve. "My dad was drunk again, so he took a swing at me. Fainted right after, so I had a chance to get my stuff." He paused for a second, looking at the deck in Soda's hand. "I'm up for a game of poker!"

Two-Bit entered the house (slamming the door behind him, of course) with two backpacks – one on his back and the other on his chest. He put them both down besides Steve's and then went directly to the couch.

"What's with the two bags, Two-Bit?" Steve asked as he got up from the couch.

"Well, one's filled with clothes and junk, and the other's filled with magazines, if you know what I mean." He went into laughter after that. I glared at him, which made him stop. "You know I'm just jokin', Superman!" he said to me.

"I'm going to make sure," I said. I wasn't completely convinced. It was Two-Bit for God's sake! So I walked to his two bags. I felt the first one and it felt like clothes to me. Then I went to the second one and opened it. I blew out a sigh of relief, and I knew I was going to be giving an apology soon. It was filled with chips, pretzels, and God only knows what other snacks, but no dirty magazines were seen. "Sorry Two-Bit," I grumbled.

"Aw, no worries, Darry! I knew you wouldn't have believed me if I even gave a Scout's Honor!" he replied back. He walked over to the table Soda had set up and took a seat.

"That's because you're not a scout!" I shouted back to him when I had gone to the kitchen. I took out the large pitcher of cold chocolate milk and set it on the kitchen table while I went for some cups. That's when Dally and Johnny arrived. Dally had one backpack, as well as Johnny. Figures. It was a good thing that we'd all brought together money to buy Johnny's some new winter clothes for his birthday. His birthday was in the autumn, where the air began to get chilly.

"Hey Dal, you up for a game of poker?" called Soda.

"Count me in," he said as he put out his cigarette that had once been dangling in his mouth. I was thankful that he didn't put it out on my carpet, or I would have beaten his blond head in.

"I'm game," said Johnny. "Hey Pony, you wanna join us?"

Pony looked up from his book and shook his head, returning to it in an instant. I doubt he even knew how to play poker. Wait – what am I saying? He lives with Soda for cryin' out loud! But it was a good thing he had refused because I needed him.

"Hey Pon, can you come in here for a sec? I need your help!" I shouted to him. He was with me in a flash. That kind of creeped me out, but I shook it off.

"Carry these glasses over to the table with me, will ya?"

He agreed and took two glasses while I miraculously took three. He set one down in front of Soda and I was expecting him to give one to Steve, seeing as Steve was directly besides Soda, but he didn't. He gave one to Dally, who was as far away from Steve as possible. Steve mumbled something and Pony's expression changed from neutral to anger. What was up?

I handed the drinks to the remaining guys and walked back into the kitchen. Pony didn't seem fazed at all because he just returned to his book. Okay, I guess he just thought Steve wasn't looking, or Dally was extremely parched or something like that. Whatever.

Hours later, after screaming and shouting and wrestling in the living room (in which Two-Bit won over Soda and Steve because they were blocking his view from Mickey), it was getting extremely late (more like one o'clock in the morning). Dally had already fallen asleep in the armchair and Pony was in his room (probably asleep anyway), but everyone else seemed to just wake up.

"Alright everyone, light's out," I said in my commanding voice. For once, they seemed to obey. I think it was because of the fact that they all had to get up early. Steve and Two-Bit fought for the couch, which resulted with Two-Bit on the floor besides Johnny and Steve with an even bigger throb in his newly acquired bruise. Suddenly, I didn't think that going on this trip was such a good idea . . . think of all the cops we'll bring to the cabin!

* * *

**Reham:** I think this is one of my greater stories - I just have a feeling.  
**Two-Bit:** I like the plot - what do you guys think?  
**Soda:** I'm game  
**Steve:** I ain't.  
**Pony:** Same here - there is NO way you'll get us to like each other  
**Reham:** Oh, I have powers . . . mystical, malicious powers.  
**Darry:** Believe what she says. One time, I woke up and I was in a ballerina outfit because she told me to put it on. She has mind-controlling powers, guys.  
**Dally:** Yeah right  
**Johnny:** Reham wants to hear some of your thoughts, so please review.  
**Reham:** BTW, the next chapter is absolutely HILARIOUS! so before you judge this story, read the next chapter and then make your decision.  
**Two-Bit:** Yeah, next chap is when I get to tell stories! I love my stories! Hey, did I ever tell you about the time when I got stranded on an island and I -  
**Reham:** They'll have to read the next chap for that. Peace n Mahalo people!


	2. Road Trip

**Reham: **I'm still depressed . . . and it's my birthday!  
**Two-Bit: **It's your birthday?  
**Soda:** Let's CELEBRATE!  
**-the gang comes out with a huge birthday cake and start singin-  
The Gang:** Happy Birthday to you! You're a hundred and two! You look like a monkey! ANd you act like one too!  
**Reham:** That just makes me feel more depressed.  
**Steve:** Anyway guys, get ready to laugh your heads off  
**Two-Bit:** Cue me!  
**Darry:** I hate him - I shoulda been there  
**Pony:** What'dya mean?  
**Johnny:** Oh, you'll find out. Read and review. Dally!  
**Dally: **Yes, I am the official disclaimer person. Reham owns shit. She does not own us, or anything. S.E. Hinton is proud to call us hers. NOW READ!  
**Reham:** Yeah . . .  
**Two-Bit:** -runs head-first into the cake screaming "MICKEY MOUSE!"

…**:Road Trip:…**

**:Soda's PoV:**

Oh man . . . what the heck was that shaking feeling? Where was it coming from? Oh yeah . . . a hand. Someone was shaking me like I was a vending machine and he had their snack stuck in me. I drearily opened my eyes to see Two-Bit, a big goofy grin on his face.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" he said, shaking up and down like he was high off of something, which was a very likely possibility.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Six thirty in the morning! Hurry up, hurry up, hurry UP!"

Then he started running around in a circle right at the foot of my bed. I noticed Pony was already gone. I heard the shower running and knew that it must be him.

"Two-Bit, what did you have this morning?" I asked him, still groggy from my awakening.

"Well, let's see . . . beer, beer, beer, chocolate, sugar, coffee, beer, chocolate, beer, sugar, beer –"

"Whoa, slow down. Darry let you have all of that?" I asked incredulously.

"Well, no, he was asleep and I just thought I'd raid the fridge, you know? Man, coffee and sugar taste great! Woohoo! C'mon! Everyone's awake but you! C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! Get up, get up, get up!"

Oh God, Two-Bit had _way_ too much sugar this morning. He'd drive us all crazy. I knew Dally and Steve were going to take a swing at him for being so chaotic and hyped up. Then I noticed that he already had a light bruise under his left eye.

"Hey Two-Bit, who gave you that bruise?" I asked as I flung the covers off of me.

"Dallas, Dally, Dal. I woke him up and _wham!_ He hits me straight in the eye!"

I had to laugh at that. Two-Bit had to be pretty damn stupid to wake up Dally. Damn, he was hopped up on sugar real good.

Pony had exited the shower and it was my turn. I turned on the water and the coldness hit my back like icicles digging into my skin. Pony had taken all of the hot water! That was one of the reasons that I always woke up early. How long did he take a shower for? An hour?

The shower woke me up something good and I walked out of the bathroom clad only in a pair of jeans. I hadn't even bothered to dry my hair. It was too much work to do in the morning. Walking into the living room, I noticed that Two-Bit had gone outside. He was doing cartwheels and handstands and back flips, and to add to the silliness, he was singing "You Ain't Nothin' But a Hound Dog" by Elvis in a non-passable impression of him. Ponyboy, Steve, and Johnny were sitting on the porch with their morning cake and chocolate milk, laughing their heads off. Dally was looking mighty pissed on the couch, and Darry was in the kitchen eating his own healthier balanced breakfast than chocolate cake and chocolate milk (although he was eating a slice of chocolate cake). I walked in and he looked up.

"Hey Darry, there's no way I'm riding with Two-Bit in the truck," I said to him as I sat down and took a slice of cake for myself.

"Sorry buddy, but Dally's already called the front," he said to me.

"Then we can tie Two-Bit to the back of the truck and when he gets hungry, we'll just feed him!" I said with feigned pleading.

"It wasn't my fault he had all of that sugar."

"Actually, it is – you're supposed to be the supervisor!"

I got him there. He gave me a mock glare and swatted me across the head. I continued eating my cake and finally decided to put on a shirt. I hadn't known that time had gone by so fast because the second I dragged my bag downstairs, Darry was already telling us to get in the truck. It didn't seem like I was the only person that thought time had gone by quickly.

"Damn Darry, ain't it a little too early to be leaving?" asked Dally as he took his bag from the floor.

Darry didn't reply because he was shouting at Two-Bit from outside. "Two-Bit, get your butt in here right now and collect your bags! If I see you eat one more ounce of sugar, I'll make you run after the truck!"

Two-Bit stopped midway in his back flip and fell on his back, his goofy grin still super-glued onto his face. Pony, Steve, and Johnny howled with laughter. Dally even cracked a grin. "Man, Two-Bit's gonna drive us all crazy," he commented while shaking his head.

"Pony, Steve, Johnny, get those dishes in the sink and get in the truck. If you guys aren't in there in five minutes, I'm leaving without you."

No one took that threat seriously. Darry was like one of those military men that always repeated, "No man gets left behind!" But the three of them went about it quickly anyway.

As I was heading towards the car, I suddenly had a fun thought. Darry's Ford was a pickup truck, and the carrier area was big enough to hold the entire gang. What's better than to be sitting in the back, telling stupid stories to each other and cracking jokes? I opened the back passenger seat and threw in my bag, instead of throwing it in the carrier area where Darry told us to put it in the first place. Then I ran back inside the house and took three bags at a time, throwing them into the back seat.

"Sodapop Curtis, what are you doing with those bags?" Darry asked me as he closed the door behind him and made sure it was locked (for once, he actually locked it!). I exchanged glances with Steve and he immediately knew what I was up to. It was this special best friend thing we were able to do.

"Aw, c'mon Dar, we're just gonna have a little fun," he said.

Two-Bit started jumping up and down again. I had already thrown his bag into the back seat. I took Darry's two bags off of his shoulders and took Dally's from the floor and made off with them. I shoved them in the back. Now no one was going to be able to be seated there. Tough luck.

"Darry, all you need to worry about is driving," I said. Of course, he and Dally were going to take turns driving, but at this point, I don't think he wanted to stop driving at all because he would never have wanted to be associated with what we were going to do in the back. "Everybody in the back!" I shouted.

"Woohoo!" Two-Bit cheered as he jumped in the back, resting his back against the left side. Pony hesitantly went in after him. I knew he was thinking that this wasn't a good idea, but I thought it was. I went right in after him, and that was it for the left side. Then Dally sat across Two-Bit, a new cancer stick dangling from his mouth. Johnny sat across Pony, and Steve sat across me. Darry walked over to us, uneasiness taking over his face.

"I'm not sure about this," he said.

"We're okay, Darry. Aren't we guys?" I said. When everyone nodded (Two-Bit looked like he was head-banging at a rock concert), I said, "See?"

"Alright, but if one of you gets uncomfortable, tap on the window and I'll let you take the front seat," he said. Everyone was in disbelief that Darry gave in so soon, but I guess that everyone was also in disbelief that we were going on this trip in the first place. Darry headed to the front and started the car. (A/N: I know that if you do this in some states, it's illegal, but bear with me because it adds fun!). We all let out a whoop.

"Road trip!" I shouted. It was going to take a full 7 hours to get there, or at least that's what Darry said.

"99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer . . . Two-Bit slurps one down and won't pass it around . . . Mmm . . . beer . . ."

We all had to laugh at the parody Two-Bit had started, but he was too busy in his own world to even finish the first verse. I could tell Steve was about to say something, but Two-Bit interrupted him.

"Did I ever tell you guys about the time I was stranded on an island and I had to fight for my life?" he said, his eyes glowing with excitement.

Everyone exchanged glances at this. Two-Bit had never once left Oklahoma, so how the heck did he get stranded on an island? We didn't say anything about it, because we knew that it was going to be an interesting story.

"No, you've never told us that one," said Pony, a slight laugh in his voice.

"Well then, I'll tell it to ya!"

I loved the feeling of the wind rushing through my hair. It whipped the left side of my face because I was seated sideways. It also made my clothes billow. I looked across at Steve and I couldn't help but laugh. I looked at everyone and laughed as well.

"Whatchya laughin' at, Soda?" Two-Bit asked me before he started his story.

"We all gained a lot of weight," I said, staring at the puffy shirt of Steve. Everyone looked down at themselves and laughed as they saw their "Santa" bellies. "Alright Two-Bit, you can continue your story."

"Right, right . . . okay, so there I was, on a bicycle, and I was riding down the road when this cop pulls over, right? So he says 'Okay, hood, now you're gonna get it!' and he takes out a gun and shoots me where the sun don't shine. Then he drags me to the nearest tree and puts me up there. While I'm up there, a spoon suddenly hits my head." I couldn't help it – I was laughing already. "And I think, you know, this spoon's gotta be a sign from the big man up there. Then I suddenly know what the spoon is for. So I hop outta the tree and start carving the trunk of it. I carve this huge chunk out of it and make it into a canoe, right? So I sail it on down the road until I reach this island, right? But this crazed gorilla comes out of no where and eats my boat! I say 'Hey gorilla, go take a chomp out of someone else's canoe!', but that just makes it mad, see? So he starts beating the crap outta me and that's when he suddenly dies. So then I'm stranded on the island with bloody balls and a black eye. The end."

By this time, we're all laughing until our sides hurt, Two-Bit included. I couldn't breathe well because I was laughing so hard. "So – so how'd you get back to Tulsa?" Dally asked when he got himself together.

"I woke up!" was Two-Bit's reply.

That just made us laugh even harder. Two-Bit's laughing so hard that his face is turning purple. He finally takes one giant breath and says, "Wait, wait, I gotta another one!" And that began the series of Two-Bit's crazy stories. We sat for hours listening to his crazy stories. Everyone took turns. Dally told us a story about how he'd beaten the crap out of Tim Shepard's car and spent the day locked up in the trunk of the same car. Steve told a story about three dogs, a cat, and whipped cream, which none of you should ever know the details of. By the time we were finished with another one of Two-Bit's (about a crack in the fence, a dog's tongue, and his own – you can figure that out, can't you?), Darry had already pulled us over at a Dairy Queen for a snack. We immediately piled out of the car, laughing as if Two-Bit had slipped on a banana peel and run head-first into a fat man's belly button. Darry looked at us like we were idiots.

"Come on Darry, why don't you let one of us drive and come and join the rest in the back?" I said as we entered the Dairy Queen.

"There are two reasons: one, you guys are all going to drive like maniacs and two, I don't even want to know what sick and twisted stories Two-Bit's got in his insane mind," he replied with a grin.

"Are you sure we should be here?" asked Pony. "I mean, Two-Bit's hopped up on enough sugar already," he added as he watched Two-Bit.

Two-Bit was swaying slightly now, his eyes rolling every now and then. This must be the sugar taking effect on him. "No worries, Pon. I'll take a burger . . . any more sugar and I'll throw up," he said.

We all squeezed ourselves into one booth and waited for the waitress to come. She wasn't pretty at all, so we didn't bother ourselves with flirting. She didn't look too young, anyway. As a matter-of-fact, she looked older than Darry! We ordered and then we all started talking about what we'd do on the trip.

"Poker all night long," said Two-Bit.

"No way, scary stories!" Steve argued.

"Both," I said.

"Deal."

"I'm going to take a hike up the mountains every morning," said Darry. Everyone looked at him like he was crazy. "It's good for you."

"While you're breaking your back falling off of that mountain, I'm gonna go and catch some fish in that river with my bare hands," said Dally. "I hear it ain't too deep and that there's more fish in the winter than the summer. My old man told me about it."

"Snowball fight!" Two-Bit suddenly exclaimed. I immediately agreed. Steve agreed because I agreed. Johnny agreed because he loved the idea and Pony agreed for the same reason. It was going to be fun. We'd be on teams and then we'd have a snow contest on whose snowman is best. It sounded un-greaser-like, but it was for the fun of it. Like Darry had mentioned before, there were no Socs, so we didn't have to keep a rep. Dally was all for the toughness, though.

"Here you go," the waitress said when she returned with our orders. We thanked her quietly and dug in. I was having a burger, fries, and a Coke. When I bit into my burger, I choked on it because I started laughing. Two-Bit had shoved two fries up his nostrils and was crossing his eyes and sticking out his tongue. Darry rubbed me on the back saying, "I hope you're not going to eat those, Two-Bit."

"No way in hell," he replied, taking them out.

The whole meal was a laugh. Two-Bit's sugar rush started to go away (which we were all highly thankful for) and soon, it was time to leave again. Darry said we needed to get back on track. Taking my Coke with me, we left the Dairy Queen after paying and loaded back into the car. Darry said that there were four more hours left for the trip. That was enough.

In no time, we were back on the road. It was ten o'clock in the morning, but I was already starting to get tired, probably because I'd only gotten six hours of sleep. Everyone seemed out of it, but we were kept in stitches because of Two-Bit. I was feeling a little queasy from all of the bumps that started occurring in the road. Going up and down on a full stomach didn't make you feel so hot, if you know what I mean.

It was another hour after eating at the Dairy Queen and no one was speaking at all. I guess everyone was feeling nauseous, too, because they all had this glaze appearance to their eyes. Even Dally had closed his eyes and put his head back, his hand wrapped around his stomach.

Something solid hit my shoulder and I turned to see Pony, fast asleep, with his head resting on me. Johnny was asleep as well, and Two-Bit's head kept falling forward, but he kept jolting back upright as if he didn't want to go to sleep. Finally, his body gave in. We'd all had a long night and little sleep. Steve's eyes were steadily drooping and Dally seemed the only one fully awake . . . or used to be. It turned out that when he'd put his head back, he'd fallen asleep. It was only me and Steve . . . uh . . . it was only me. And soon, it was only Darry.

**Reham:** So can you guys review? It's my stupid birthday, please review? Make me happy!  
**Soda:** She's depressed 'cause 4 of her friends left in the same week as her birthday  
**Two-Bit (from inside cake):** So now she thinks her birthday sucks  
**Steve:** And now she has to go to her grandma's  
**Dally:** Yeah, so she can help her cross the street  
**Reham:** Shut up, Dal  
**Dally:** What did you say dibshit?  
**Reham:** You heard me, Winston  
**Dally:** That's it  
**-Shoves Reham into the cake with Two-Bit-  
Dally (proudly):** REVIEW!


	3. Getting Comfy

**Reham: **Hey y'all! I told ya I would update sooner!  
**Steve:** O.o - You call this sooner?  
**Reham:** Well it wasn't as late as the last time! **-takes off hat-  
Greasers: -burst out laughing.  
Soda:** You - you - you got a haircut! HAHAHAHA!  
**Reham:** How'd a greaser like to get his haircut, eh?  
**Darry:** Now, I don't think that's necessary  
**Reham:** **-pulls out scissors-** How'd you like to be the first?  
**Johnny:** **-just entered-** Hey y'all! What's happenin'?  
**Pony:** Can we just GET ON witht he story!  
**Two-Bit:** Ah, _Get Over It_! Get it? The story's called "Get Over It". Get it? Get it? Ah, shut up. You guys don't get a good joke!  
**Reham:** Hey! I watched "Coming to America" yesterday!  
**Soda:** Yeah! The joke! Tell the joke!  
**Two-Bit: -acting like an old man-** Okay, so a guy goes into a restaurant. Are you listening? So a guy goes into a restaurant, sits down, orders the soup and then says **"Hey waiter!"** So the waiter comes over and says **"What? What is it?"** The man says **"Taste the soup." "Is there something wrong with the soup?" "Just taste the soup." "I don't get it. Is the soup too cold. Is it -" "Just _taste the soup!_" "Alright, alright, I'll taste the soup. Where's the spoon?"** Ahaaa . . . **-laughs-** Ahaaa!  
**Dally, Steve, and Darry while Soda, Two-Bit, Pony, Johnny, and Reham burst out laughing:** O.o - That was a stupid joke.  
**Reham:** Ah, just read the damn story.  
**Dally:** Reham. Doesn't. Own. Us. Get it? Got it? Good.

…**:Getting Comfy:…**

**:Two-Bit's PoV:**

Dammit, when I woke up, I felt like I had a hangover. It was probably the sugar . . . I knew I had too much, but it tasted so good! Maybe beer has a lot of sugar in it and that's why you get a hangover. Maybe sugar's the reason! Or maybe sugar has a lot of alcohol in it. But then there's no way Darry would let Pony go near sugar. Whatever it was, it left a bad feeling in me.

I woke up and looked around. Steve had his head on the side of the truck, Johnny had his head on Dally's shoulder, and Dally had his head on the truck's back window. I used to have my head on Pony's shoulder, Pony had his head on Soda's shoulder, and Soda's head was positioned like Steve's. Why was everyone asleep?

We were riding up some sort of hill. I looked around, but my view didn't change. There was nothing but trees covered in snow and the dirt road ahead of us. The trees were so close that if I stuck my hand out, I'd be able to grab a tree branch and rip it off. Darry's window was opened, so since I was close to it, I leaned in and said, "Hey Dar, are we there yet?"

That made him jump slightly. "I thought you guys were all asleep," he replied.

"I just woke up," I said.

"The cabin's up this hill. Hey, wake everyone up, will ya?"

"Sure, but I ain't wakin' up Dally. I'll have Johnny wake up. He won't hit Johnny."

I heard Darry laugh at that, but I could still feel that powerful punch. I gently swatted Ponyboy across the head. "Morning Sunshine," I said. He rubbed his eyes and looked at me.

"Where are we?" he asked groggily.

"Almost there," I said as I leaned over him to wake up Soda. Yeah, that was my mistake right there. Dammit, I accidentally hit into Dally, which, of course, woke him up. I gave him a goofy grin and said, "Oh, nice to see you awake, Dally . . . please don't hit me!"

Dally grinned and said, "I ain't gonna hit you." Then he turned to Johnny and woke him up. Breathing a sigh of relief, I shook Soda. He stirred and opened his eyes.

"Did you have to wake me up?" he said with a mock hurt glance. "I was having a nice dream about blueberries and muffins."

"We're almost there, pretty boy, so you can dream when we get there. Now wake up Stevie."

I turned back and looked ahead. A clearing was able to be seen and I could see something other than trees for once! But I couldn't quite make out that something. I kept staring at it, trying to decipher what it looked like. As it got closer, I realized that it was the foot of the mountains. Then there was this large maple log cabin directly besides it. Holy smokes! Our cabin was one foot away from the start of the mountains! That would be a joy! The more I thought about it, the more I liked it. Superman would be gone for a few hours climbing that giant mountain, so we'd be able to get away with murder! Okay, not necessarily murder because the cops'll know, but we could get away with anything else! But then there was kidnapping, burning down the log cabin, burying a body alive . . . okay, so maybe there wasn't a lot we could get away with, but we could try!

I could hear the gasps and could see the looks of awe from behind me. Yup, the place was a beauty alright. It was like a more compact Winter Wonderland. Directly behind our large cabin were trees. The left side of it had the mountain and the right side of it had a large clearing where snow blanketed it . . . and then more trees. Another large clearing, larger than before, acted as the front yard of our cabin and then at the end of the clearing were, of course, more trees. There was a faint droning sound in the distance that sounded like a river. So that's what Dally was taking about!

Darry parked his truck in the right-side clearing and said, "Alright everyone, get out and go fight over a room!"

That was definitely my cue! I jumped out of the car and immediately ran inside as fast as I could. To compare myself to the stupidest thing in the world, I was the donkey and someone was trailing me in with a large bottle of Jack Daniels.

There were four rooms. The two biggest had two beds in them and the other two were smaller, but they only had one bed. All in all, it was a fair game. But I wasn't up to sharing a room with another person. I knew Soda and Pony were going to share a bed, and so that meant that Steve would probably get a bed next to Soda's, so that was one room gone. Then Dally would probably want a room with Darry or Johnny, and I knew Darry wouldn't want a room with anyone so Dally would room with Johnny, so that left me with a room all to myself! Booya! Unless . . . unless Dally took the single room and I had to share a room with Johnny. I could share a room with Johnny, but I wanted a room all to myself. I had plans that involved me and only me – and no, it's not what you're thinking you sickos!

It was a good thing that Dal was still back at the truck. I ran into the cabin and didn't stop to look at the scenery, because I just jolted up the stairs and into the nearest one-person room. The second-to-last door was the one I was looking for. I almost broke the knob off trying to get the door open when I realized that there was a key lodged inside of the keyhole. Feeling stupid, I turned the key and opened the door. Woo, was it one good-looking room or what?

There was a bed, a dresser, and a closet in the room. There were already sheets on the bed – thank the Lord because I didn't bother bringing sheets with me in my bags . . . my bags! Dammit, I left them in the truck. Eh, that wasn't too bad because I had a key to my door. I exited the room and locked the door from the outside so that no one could get in. I pocketed the key and was finally able to enjoy the scenery.

The cabin was a beautiful sight. Technically, there was only one floor. From the first floor, there was a staircase in the corner that led to the second floor, but the second floor was only a single hallway with doors on its right side. I was standing on the hallway, leaning on the wooden frames that kept a person from falling. Hell, everything in the cabin was made out of wood. From my place on the frames, I could see everything in the cabin. The floor was made out of polished wood and covered with old rugs that Darry would probably clean because they were so dirty. In the middle of the largest wall was a redbrick fireplace that led up to a chimney . . . no shit! In the middle of the room was a large table that was able to seat everyone with three chairs left over. There was also a couch, two sets of loveseats, and an armchair. That would be perfect. And gasp! There was a TV! Mickey wasn't on right now, so I wasn't in a hurry. Since the first floor was one giant room, there was a stove and sink in the corner, complete with a refrigerator. Thankfully, there was a door that led to the bathroom. Damn, how much money did we make to rent a cabin like this for a week? I whistled low.

That's when everyone else started coming in. When Soda stepped inside, he stopped at the door, causing Steve to knock into him and the two of them toppled onto the waxed floor. Pony tripped over them on his way inside and that's when I laughed. How many people can be so careless at once?

"Two-Bit, you left you stuff in the truck so I brought it out for you," Darry called from downstairs. I hopped onto the railing of the stairs and slid down, making sure to jump off before the large stub at the end had a chance to hit me down under.

"Thanks, Superman!" I said with a grin on my face. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go and make myself comfortable in _my_ room."

I turned around and acted like one of those stuck up rich snobs. "You boy!" I said, pointing at Pony. "Fetch me my bags from the chauffer and bring them up to my room!" I was imitating the voice of a woman in a British accent.

Pony grinned widely and said, "Yes ma'am." He took the bags from Darry and carried them up to me, stopping to give me a low bow. I turned around stiffly and purposely shook my butt from side to side as I walked up the stairs. I heard laughter from the bottom of the stairs, but I kept my nose in the air and unlocked the door.

"Thank you, kind servant. Here's a token of appreciation," I said in the same accent. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a cigarette. Pony bowed once more and said, "Thank you ma'am," before taking the cigarette and sticking it in his mouth.

"Pony, grab a room!" Soda called from downstairs. I watched Pony grab the room besides mine and heard the sound of bedsprings bouncing. I looked back downstairs and saw Steve and Soda exchange glances, then run upstairs to the same room. God, that room was going to be filled with grunts from wrestling. I waited to see which room Dally would get. He motioned for Johnny to follow him and the two of them disappeared into the first room someone saw when they climbed up the stairs. My theory was right! Gawd . . . I've been hanging around Pony too much. Darry got the room on the left of mine and disappeared into it. That's when I went into mine and shut the door behind me. It was time to decorate this bland room with the Two-Bit charm.

**Reham:** Eh, that was a shorter chapter than usual. But it was just an introductory chapter  
**Steve:** Yeah, the next chapter is going to be called "Hot Babes."  
**Reham:** No, it's going to be called "Snow Day"!  
**Soda:** Yeah, that's because Two-Bit shoves pants down his snow -  
**Darry:** I think you mean snow down his pants.  
**Soda:** No! Pants down his snow! And we build a snowman and dump it -  
**Reham:** Okay, Soda, that's enough. They'll have to read it for themselves. Oh, and I want to take a poll. Johnny, if you please . . .  
**Johnny:** Reham wants to know if she should put her replies in the fanfiction itself, or if she should just leave 'em be.  
**Dally:** Yeah, so send in an answer, okay? Now review, Goddammit!  
**Everyone but Dally gasps.  
Reham:** God Almighty! Is Dally doing what I think he's doing?  
**Pony:** If you mean wearing a pink strapless dress and sipping tea -  
**Two-Bit:** WITH HIS PINKY UP!  
**Pony:** . . . then yes, that's what he's doing.  
**Soda: -running around with his hands in the air- **IT'S THE SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE!  
**Reham:** O.o Review - I beg of you. AND THANKS FOR THE BIRTHDAY THINGY! YOU GUYS REALLY MADE MY DAY!


	4. Snow Day

**Reham:** Woot! Another BETTER chapter! I tried updating yesteday, but this damn website wouldn't let me!  
**Two-Bit:** This is a GREAT chapter!  
**Steve:** How would you know?  
**Two-Bit:** You have underestimated me, my dear Stevie  
**Soda:** You aren't good in English in any way! You've failed it!  
**Two-Bit:** Me fail English? That's unpossible!  
**Darry: -shaking his head- **That's extreme proof in that last sentence  
**Pony:** And if you couldn't get it, then you should just stop living  
**Two-Bit:** We get to beat up Dally in this chapter! WOOT!  
**Dally: -grabs Two-Bit by the front of his shirt-** What did you say  
**Johnny:** Run, Two-Bit, run! RUN!  
**Reham:** Dallas Winston, you put Two-Bit down! AND the knife!  
**Johnny:** Can you please wait while we try to contain Dally from slicing Two-Bit into fine cheese?  
**Soda:** That's **Swiss** cheese! It's really good!  
**Pony:** Oh please, if Reham owned us, she wouldn't do this to us  
**Darry:** Hence the reason they have disclaimers!  
**Pony:** That's what I just did!  
**Steve:** Yeah right  
**Pony:** You shut your mouth!  
**Steve:** If you shut yours first!  
**Johnny: **REVIEW!

…**:Snow Day:…**

**:Steve's PoV:**

I had exchanged glances with Soda and the two of us dashed into the room Pony had just entered. If only Soda didn't have to sleep with him. He was 14 for cryin' out loud! Come on! He can handle his own nightmares. But I had to put up with it . . . for Soda's sake. If I had to share a room with Ponyboy, then I'd ignore him the best I could. I knew he'd do the same. The only thing we agreed on was our feelings for each other . . . and that was hatred. Pure, deep hatred.

"Let's put our things in our closets and skedaddle. I don't wanna stay in my room forever while we're here," said Soda. I nodded and opened my bag. I hadn't packed much because I didn't have much. I had four pairs of jeans which should last me the week. I had a single jacket, two sweatshirts, and three long-sleeved shirts that would also last for me. Instead of bringing my Chucks, I brought my worn black boots that I'd had for a while now. I just shoved everything in my closet pell-mell and turned around. Soda seemed to have done the same because when I turned around, he was standing right there, grinning like a Chessy.

"Hey Pon, wanna come? Stevie and me are gonna go play a game of poker with Two-Bit and Dally," said Soda.

Damn, I wish he hadn't said that. When Soda was turned around, I glared at Pony. He noticed my glare but decided that he could ignore it for once. Thankfully, he shook his head. "No thanks," he said in that innocent tone I despised so much. "I'm going to pack my things away and I'll be down in a few."

Wise move, kid. I wouldn't have wanted you along anyway. Soda shrugged and walked out the door, his grin still not fading. Sometimes that boy was too happy, but I followed him out of the room anyway. Two-Bit was already down there, sitting at the table with a deck in hand. There was no doubt that he had just thrown his clothes onto his bed and ran out of the room.

"You guys aren't going to do that all day, are you?" Darry asked from the stairs. He was a speedy cleaner that was for sure.

"Don't worry, Darry. When Johnny and Pony are finished, we'll be outside having a snow day," replied Two-Bit.

I knew what that snow day was going to involve, and I was looking forward to one event: the snowball fight. That was a chance that I could finally throw something at that little brat without getting in trouble. Maybe this vacation wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Alright, but wear heavy clothing. I don't want any of you sick for the entire vacation," he warned before heading out. I noticed that he was wearing bulk of his own and he was tying his boots.

"Where ya goin'?" I asked him before anyone else could.

"I'm goin' fishing with Dal. We're bringing back the dinner," he replied. Then, to the room upstairs, he called, "Hurry up, Dal!"

Dally emerged in his fur-lined (fake fur – he didn't have _that_ much money) leather jacket (once again – fake leather). "Hold your horses, Darry. I'm here, ain't I? And dinner's, like, four hours away," he replied. I grinned on the inside. That was good ol' Dally for you. He loved to do things at the last minute.

I shook my head and sat at the table. Two-Bit dealt the cards as I watched Darry and Dally leave with a bucket that had been present in the cabin already. When they shut the door behind them, two other doors opened in unison. Johnny and Pony came out and ran down the stairs.

"Come and join us, guys," said Two-Bit. "We'll play one round of poker and then go outside for some real fun."

"Who says poker ain't real fun?" I said to him as Johnny and Pony shrugged and took their seats. Two-Bit dealt them their hands and I looked at mine. Then I took my cigarette pack out of my pocket and put three cigarettes in the middle. I was definitely going to win this game.

15 minutes through the game, I put down my cards and said "Read 'em and weep" as I began gathering everything on the table that was put up for a bet; seven cigarettes, five pennies, a nickel, and a sticker of a car. I had placed down the top of them all – the royal flush. If I say I was going to win, then by all means, I was going to win.

"Ha!" Soda said while he placed his cards down. He'd gotten a royal flush as well.

"Hold up, hold up," said Two-Bit, placing his cards down. He had two queens. Johnny placed his cards down as well. He had one queen. That meant Soda had to be cheating. "One of you guys cheated. I know cards and there ain't five queens in a deck."

"I honestly didn't cheat," I said. That was the truth and it ain't nothin' but the truth. I looked at Soda and his grin only got wider. I pointed at him and said, "You always grin when you cheat, Sodapop!"

"Heck, I didn't cheat. I guess that means we're gonna have to share the dough. Cough it up, Stevie."

"Oh, I'm going to share something with you alright, but it won't be this dough." I ran upstairs to grab my jacket and then ran back downstairs. "You're going to get a lot more than this dough."

"Bring it on," said Soda, grabbing his jacket from the back of his chair. Two-Bit already had his jacket on, and so did Pony, and I don't think Johnny's ever taken his off. Soda ran after me as I dashed out the door. The snow was deep, but not so deep that we couldn't walk in it. I ran out and grabbed a handful of snow, immediately cushioning it between my hands to get it into a perfect ball. Before Soda had the chance to make his own, I sent mine hurling through the air to hit him squarely on the chest.

"Cease fire!" Two-Bit shouted, putting his hands up. "I suggest we make teams! I get Johnny and Pony, and you two can have each other!"

I exchanged glances with Soda and grinned. I mostly grinned because Soda was on my team. The other reason for the grin was because I wouldn't have Ponyboy on my back. This was going to be great.

"Deal!" I shouted back to him. "We each have five minutes to build up our bases and then when I give the signal, we'll start!"

Two-Bit nodded and he, Pony, and Johnny started building up the snow. Soda ran to me and began doing the same. We got the side near the woods and they got the side near the house. In three minutes, Soda and I were able to form a thick, tall wall that would protect us against any snowball. We spent the next two minutes making a great amount of snowballs. I didn't have a clue when five minutes would be over, so I just decided on instinct. From behind out wall, I lifted my hand up in the position of a gun and then pretended to pull the trigger. The war was on.

Soda and I started pelting them with our snowballs. We managed to break down their right wall when we finished our snowballs. Since I had a better throw than Soda and since Soda could make snowballs faster than me, he started making the snowballs and handing them to me.

An eruption of snow suddenly came to me and our left wall was down. In between shots, I tried rebuilding it, but it was impossible. We had their walls completely torn down. I started focusing most of my shots at Ponyboy when he started focusing his shots at me. Soda was back with me and he was shooting at Two-Bit and Johnny. They finally got our wall torn down completely. That was when I threw the ball in my hand at Pony and went charging forward to slam into Two-Bit, knocking him back into the snow. The wrestling matches were now on. Pony and Johnny were wrestling each other and Two-Bit tag-teamed Soda in when he'd had the wind knocked out of him and it was a wrestling match against me and Soda. It finally ended when I thrust Soda down and told him to beg for mercy. He finally gave in when I started hurting him.

"Alright, now that we're all cold and tired, who's up for making snowmen?" said Johnny.

"Who's up for making the biggest snowman?" suggested Two-Bit.

"How about we all work on a monstrous snowman to kill Darry and Dally with when they get back?" said Soda.

"I'm in," I said.

"Same here," said Two-Bit.

"Ditto," said Johnny.

"I guess," said Ponyboy.

"It's settled then. We'll all make a giant snowman and when Darry and Dally get back, we'll push it onto them . . . and then we'll run before Dally beats us to make juice."

I laughed at that and got up, brushing the snow off of me. That instantly became useless because the white clouds in the sky starting grouping together. Snow showered us like it was raining.

"Well ain't this great?" said Pony as he started rolling a ball of snow on the ground. If this snow was any good, it would keep sticking to the ball until it gathered so much that it was too big to roll.

After a while of rolling that baby around, it got too big for only Pony to handle, so Johnny joined in. Soda and I were busy working on the torso of the snowman. A few minutes after Johnny joined in, Two-Bit joined in. "Just roll it somewhere where we know Dally and Darry are gonna walk," I said as I pushed the torso with Soda.

When the other three firmly placed the bottom part of the snowman on the ground, Two-Bit helped Soda and me lift the torso up on top of it. While we were doing that, Johnny and Pony were readying the head.

"Now how are we gonna get that up there?" Soda asked. He put his hands on his hips and looked up at the towering headless snowman. It was taller than him by a foot. After a minute or two, he bent down and said, "Pony, get on my shoulders."

Pony looked confused and stared around at all of us. Dammit boy, just do what your brother says! I think he could hear my thoughts because he suddenly glared at me and hopped up onto Soda so that he was sitting on his shoulders. "Now Two-Bit, hand Pony that head," said Soda. Two-Bit did as he was told. Pony fumbled with the head and I was half-wishing that it would slip from his grasp and shatter on the ground, but he got it up on top anyway. Soda dropped Ponyboy into the snow and fell backwards into me. I grabbed him, but shoved him roughly forward so that he fell into the snowman, but not hard enough to topple it over, just hard enough for it to leave an imprint of his body in it. I laughed at that, and he grinned when he came out.

"How the hell are we supposed to get a giant carrot for the nose?" Two-Bit said as he leaned on the body of the snowman.

"We can stick you in there instead," I offered jokingly.

"We can use you as the scarf," he replied.

"Guys!" Soda said in a hushed voice. "No time to decorate! They're coming!"

I looked out from behind the snowman to see Darry and Dally coming out of the woods. They were talking to each other and amazingly, Dal was laughing. I don't know what happened in those woods, but they suddenly got a lot friendlier. Darry was carrying the same bucket he left with, and it was filled to the brim with some good looking fish.

Excitedly, we hid behind the snowman so that the two couldn't see us. "Okay, on three," I said in a whisper.

Darry and Dally stopped to look at the snowman that towered above them. Actually, it seemed to be only a few inches taller than Darry, but it could still take them down.

"One . . ."

"Looks like the boys had their snow day, alright," Dally was saying.

"Two . . ."

"I'm gonna go cook this fish for dinner," said Darry.

"Three!"

With that, Soda, Two-Bit, Johnny, Pony, and I pushed onto the body of the snowman, making it waver slightly and then go crashing forward. Unfortunately, Darry yelled "Jesus Christ!" and ran off before the snow could come crashing down on him, but Dally wasn't as lucky. The entire snowman fell onto him and buried him in several feet of snow so that we couldn't see a centimeter of his body. We were exposed and Darry could see us all laughing.

"You know you guys are going to be in so much trouble when Dally comes out of there," said Darry, looking both shocked and amused.

"Who's gonna let him out?" Two-Bit managed to say between chortles.

"I am, because he's already drenched in ice cold water from the river, so you guys had better run."

I hadn't noticed until now that Darry's clothes were soaking wet from the waist under. Oh shit, Dally was going to have our heads. We could all hear the muffling voice that came from the mound of snow, and I could make out a colorful string of curse words.

"Run. Now."

That was all of our cues. We took off running and went straight into the house. I was the first to make it into the room. Soda followed me closely after that, then the brat. Two-Bit and Johnny decided to take refuge in our room as well. When Johnny closed the door behind him, he locked it and made sure it was locked. "Just in case," he whispered before going to sit on my bed.

"How long do you think he's going to stay mad?" I asked while I took off my coat. The snow on it was melting and was causing it to become drenched. I hung it on a hanger in my closet, not caring the least.

"We'd better wait until Darry calls us for dinner. That way, we'll have Superman on our side," said Two-Bit.

"Shhh . . . do you hear that?" said Johnny. We all listened intently, not making a noise. The door to the cabin slammed open and there were heavy footsteps coming up the stairs. _"Dallas, you're dripping all over the floor! Don't hurt them too bad!"_ Darry was saying. Great, Darry . . . you're not even going to try and stop him?

The footsteps got louder until they stopped. We thought Dally had finally gotten to his room, but we were wrong the second we heard thumping on our door. "Everyone get out of that room right now!" Dally growled from behind the door.

"You're not going to hurt us, are you?" asked Soda in an innocent tone. I bit my tongue to keep my face from laughing. The puppy dog eyes he was giving was hilarious, even if Dally couldn't see him.

"I'm not goin' to hurt ya . . . I'm just goin' to bash your heads in and then bury you outside . . . alive!" was the reply we got back.

"I'm going to wait until dinner," said Two-Bit.

"You guys do know I sleep in the same room with him, right?" said Johnny quietly. We laughed a little at that and I ruffled his hair, saying, "Poor Johnnycakes. But everyone knows he won't hurt ya! It's the rest of us he'll beat in."

Johnny smiled and I was happy to have made the kid crack a grin. He was too sad sometimes. Dally continued to pound on the door until Darry said, "Dallas, you're going to break that door and then you're going to have to pay for it!"

Dally grumbled a colorful rainbow of curses and then stomped off. We heard the door to his room open and then slam shut. I blew a sigh of relief, just to lighten up the mood. Actually, that was a real sigh of relief, because I wasn't all up for getting a beating on the first day of the vacation.

There was a softer knock on the door and I looked around at everyone. Soda nudged me forward and Two-Bit flung me at the door. "Bastard . . ." I mumbled before turning the key. I heard the lock click and then I turned the doorknob. Another sigh of relief came out of me when I saw Darry standing there.

"Get washed up, guys, and then get settled at the dinner table," he said. "Don't forget to change your clothes and put them outside to dry."

"Hey, can we lock Dally inside of the room for precaution?" asked Soda.

"No way, I have to get in there, too, you know," said Johnny. He left the room and I closed the door behind him. Dammit . . . Dally was going to get revenge on us. And everyone knew that Dally's revenge was a horrible thing.

**Soda:** You're making me scared  
**Two-Bit:** Me too  
**Steve:** Do we _have_ to face Dally?  
**Reham:** What're you guys chicken?  
**Johnny:** Did you see what he did to Two-Bit in the first conversation we had?  
**Darry:** Actually, no one saw it.  
**Pony:** And no one wants to see it. If you do, be prepared to gouge your on eyeballs out  
**Steve:** Then how come Two-Bit's talkin'?  
**Reham:** It's a miracle, I guess. Dally can't really hurt anythin' too bad . . . he's got pillow hands  
**Dally: -punches Reham hard- **I heard that. Still think i got pillow hands?  
**Reham:** Point taken. I've decided NOT to post up the review replies here, 'cause I got word that it was "illegal" on fanfic, but I'd like to thank my reviewers of the last chapter:

**Flag - - - Maddiecake - - - Marauder and The Q - - - Nashumai - - - SamSammySamantha (especially!) - - - xodamhsaxo - - - CrazyFoxDemon369 - - - TrunksgirlBlaze27 - - - mrs.pepsi-cole (even tho u ddnt review, u made my day - especially U!)**

**NOW REVIEW! Please? I mean, if you took that time much time reading my story, you should certainly have at least 5 seconds of time! I've had 131 hits last chapter, but i didn't get 131 reviews. Sometimes, you people can be so mean!**


	5. Pranks and Laughs

**Reham:** Hey ya'll! I wanted to update sooner, but-  
**-The gang rolls their eyes-  
Johnny:** Here comes the lame excuse  
**Reham:** Yeah, the lame excuse is that my school started, and I had to get everything done with it, and then by the time I was ready, the next day, Fanfiction was offline for the whole day! So then the next day I fell asleep for 4 hours and I had to go shopping for supplies, so now I'm free today. Sorry for the long wait.  
**Dally:** Sorry my ass  
**Pony:** Is Dally going to beat us up?  
**Reham:** Hopefully, no, just a little mention of it  
**Two-Bit:** Unless . . .  
**Reham:** Unless what?  
**Soda:** Unless Dally got into your computer and changed the story!  
**Reham:** Number one, Dally's not even smart enough to know how to turn on my laptop  
**Dally:** Hey!  
**Reham:** Second of all, he doesn't even know my password. And third, I highly doubt he's smart enough to read. Oh yeah, and his pillow hands make it difficult to type!  
**-the gang but Dally break down in laughter-  
Steve: -stops laughing, looking at the situation-** RUN REHAM RUN!  
**Reham: -looks around to see Dally with a blender and a Tomohawk. Runs for her life-** Dallas Winston, you put that blender down!  
**Dally:** Make me, bitch!  
**Darry:** Dally, is that the blender from my kitchen? I need that to make smoothies, you idiot!  
**And now, if someone was to look at the ongoing, they would see Steve, Pony, Soda, Two-Bit, and Johnny cracking up with laughter while Reham is being chased by Dally, who is being chased by Darry  
The Gang: **She no own! She no own! Review!

…**:Pranks and Laughs:…**

**:Pony's PoV:**

The snow day was excellent. I got the hits I wanted on Steve. If he wasn't such a pain in the ass, and if he didn't think of me as a tagalong, I would have been happy to call him a friend, but no – he had to do both. All of his ideas are stupid. Now we've got Dally on our tails and he's going to try and kill us, saying that it was an innocent murder.

Dinner that day was great. Darry talked about their adventure at the river. They said the water was so clear that you could drink from it. Dozens of fish sailed through the water and Darry even said that they'd seen a brown grizzly drinking from the river. We replied with our own stories about the snowball fight and the wrestling.

Right after dinner, I was so tired that I'd gone to sleep. It was morning now, and the sun was annoying me. I felt Soda's arm around my shoulder, so I carefully slid out from under it. He didn't stir and I felt relieved. Steve was on the bed besides Soda with the blankets wrapped around him like the string wrapped around the handle of a kite. I wish I could bind those blankets around him tighter . . . just enough to choke him. But I couldn't 'cause then Soda would be crying for hours on end.

I carefully creeped to my closet and opened it, hearing it creek. I looked back at Soda to see if he had stirred, but he hadn't. Good. I took out a shirt and put it on before slipping out of the door. Darry's bedroom door was open, but no one was in it. He must have gone hiking like he said he would. Two-Bit's door was closed and there was soft breathing in it, so he must have been asleep. The same went for Dally and Johnny. Shrugging, I decided that the rules in our house went for the rules in the cabin. I was about to make breakfast when I realized that it was already set up on the table. Oh yeah, Darry was the first one up.

"Pony, what are you doing up so early?" Soda asked me. He was walking towards the stairs and dragged his feet slowly down it.

"How early is it?" I asked as I dug into my eggs.

"I don't know, but it's pretty early if Steve didn't wake up yet. Darry went hiking – I heard him an hour ago. I'm gonna go take a shower . . . a nice, long shower . . ."

Yup, Soda was definitely out of it this time. The second he closed that door behind him, our bedroom door opened again. Steve came out, his eyes shifty and his movements sluggish. He spotted me down at the table and I heard him groan. Yes, that's right Steve, I'm eating breakfast. That's what I do _every_ day.

He didn't say anything to me as he sat down at the table, but he shot me a dirty glare. I returned his glare with my own and then returned to my eggs. He collected some of the ready-made eggs onto a plate of his own and said, "Can you pass the chocolate milk?"

I smirked at this. There were milk cups set out for each of us. With Soda in the bathroom and the others upstairs sleeping (with the exception of Darry in the mountains), I would have a pretty good job of getting away with it. I picked up his glass and handed it to him, but right before he could take it, I accidentally let go, causing the glass to slip and fall forward so that the chocolate spilled all over the front of his shirt.

"You bastard!" he shouted, getting up immediately. He shot out from his chair so fast that it fell to the ground. "You did that on purpose!"

"It just slipped out of my hand!" I said innocently. He took off his shirt and threw it at me.

"You _purposely_ tipped it over! You bastard!"

Okay, I didn't know he was going to get this angry over a little spill of milk . . . okay, maybe I did, but it was tempting to do. I threw his shirt off of me and stood up like he was standing.

"It was a little spill," I said, trying to control my anger.

"You want a little spill? I'll show you how little of a spill it was!" Swiftly, before I could do anything, he grabbed my chocolate milk from in front of me and poured it all over my head so that it flattened my hair and dripped off of its tips. He smiled triumphantly and said, "That's a little spill."

"You're just an asshole, you know that?" I said fiercely. Now his stupid antics were boiling my blood. "But since you need to cool down, why don't you just take some more milk?" I took another one of the gang's chocolate milk and threw it into his face, then set the cup down.

"That's IT!" he said, shouting the last word. He furiously ran around the table to get me and then tackled me to the floor. I groaned slightly when my back hit the wooden floor, but I struggled to get out from under him. He started hitting me on the face. I closed my eyes and tried to stop his fists, but he was angry . . . and when Steve gets angry, he's blinded with rage.

I flailed my arms and hit him on the bruise on his cheek. He yelped and stopped for a second, but then he went back to hitting me in every inch he could get.

"Holy shit!" I heard someone shout. Steve was suddenly pulled off of me and I was pulled up from the ground by someone from behind. I had been closing my eyes the whole time, so I hadn't noticed who had just come. I opened my eyes to see Steve being strangled by Dally and Two-Bit was holding me up.

"Okay, why is Steve shirtless and Pony . . . why are you covered in chocolate milk?" he asked me.

"More important, why the hell were you two rumbling over here? I can't believe Soda's in the shower now," said Dally. He was struggling to keep Steve in his grip because Steve was flailing and kicking and screaming obscenities at me. I smiled slightly, but then I felt pain coming from my cheek. I knew I probably had a bruise like Steve's there.

"The bastard over there spilled chocolate milk on me," spat Steve.

"I said it was an accident," I replied, just as cold.

"You damn well know that it wasn't an accident!" he screamed.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, so you guys are saying you got so worked up over some chocolate milk?" said Two-Bit. "You guys are going to need some ice for those bruises."

Soda decided that it was time to come out of the shower. He came out wrapped in nothing but a towel. When he looked at Two-Bit helping me up and Dally tightening his grip on Steve, he raised his eyebrows. "What happened?"

I walked to the table and sat down. Two-Bit went to the freezer and took two hand towels from their rack by the refrigerator. He put ice into each of them and handed me one and Steve one. Dally had let go of Steve and Steve was now glaring daggers at me. He took the towel from Two-Bit and put it on his bruise. I laughed inwardly when he grimaced from the pain.

"Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum over here got into a fight about spilt milk," said Two-Bit.

"It was nothing serious," I said, trying to get Soda to stay out of it. I didn't want him worrying over me.

"Nothing serious? You guys were on the ground trying to bash the other one's head in!" said Dally. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it. I hadn't noticed that Johnny was in the room. He was sitting on the steps, watching with wide eyes.

"I'm sure they didn't mean nothing of it, right Pony? I'd get a little angry if someone spilled my milk," said Soda. "Just don't hit each other over it next time, okay?"

I nodded my head just to make Soda happy. Steve did the same. I knew I wouldn't try to kill Steve over some chocolate milk . . . I'd try and kill him over something else. Soda disappeared into our room for some clothes. I glared back at Steve, then put the ice pack down. I took an extra towel from the rack and began to clean up the table. I heard Two-Bit chuckle. That's right, Two-Bit, go ahead and laugh because if I don't clean up this mess, Darry's going to beat my head in.

"I'm goin' out," said Steve. He put the ice pack down and followed Soda's footsteps to the room. He later emerged with a sweatshirt on and his boots laced. In my mind, I couldn't help but think '_Good ridden'._

When I had finished cleaning up the milk on the table, Soda came out of his room. He was fully dressed and looked like he was getting ready to leave.

"You're leavin' too?" I asked as I put the dirty rag away.

"'Course I am! I'm goin' to meet Steve at the river. Tell Darry where I went when he gets back, okay?" He didn't even let me answer because he was out of the door in a second. I sighed and sat back down at the table. Fun vacation . . . yeah right . . .

And then another one of my crazy ideas popped into my head. Why don't we play pranks? All I needed was Two-Bit and we'd have the best pranks ever.

"Hey Two-Bit, you got time?" I asked from the table. He was on the couch with Dally and Johnny flipping through the channels.

"Yeah kid, I got all the time in the world," he replied.

"Good . . ."

XxXxXxX

I had gotten not only Two-Bit to join me, but also Dally and Johnny. Two-Bit was giddy and wanted to try every prank in the book. I had to say that I wanted the pranks pulled on both Steve and Soda so as not to arouse suspicion. Two-Bit told us what to do and Johnny, Dally, and I set everything up. All we had to do was wait until Soda and Steve to come back. To pass time, we played a game of poker.

Darry came back before Soda and Steve did. We had to guide him around all of the pranks we'd set up without actually telling him what we were up to. Darry looked so tired that he could fall asleep on the floor, so I led him to his room and shut the door on him so that he would be able to get some sleep. Just as I did that, the handle to the front door opened and in came Soda and Steve. Steve was in a better mood than before. They had dozens of sticks in their hands and they just set it all at the front door.

"What are the sticks for?" Dally asked, keeping cool.

"Carving," Soda replied simply.

We all eyed them as they went to their room. I knew Two-Bit was biting his tongue hard and he had to turn away so that Soda and Steve wouldn't see him stifling his laughter. The second Steve touched the doorknob, he pulled his hand back instantly. "Dumbasses!" he shouted from upstairs. Soda laughed at this and said, "Who put honey on the doorknob?"

"Two-Bit was eating a honey sandwich and he wanted something from my room," I started, "but he didn't wash his hands."

Steve muttered under his breath and turned the doorknob all the way. When he entered the room, it was priceless.

We had filled the bucket Dally and Darry had taken fishing with snow and placed it on top of the door of our room so that when someone would open the door, the snow would fall all over him. And Steve just happened to be that victim. The bucket landed directly on his head and trapped him in it, letting the snow fall over his body. Everyone but him (and Darry) was laughing their heads off. Steve let out a yell of fury and chucked the bucket off of his head. He launched it off of the stairs so that it barely missed Dally's head. "Bastards!" he yelled, his eyes filled with rage.

The snow was melting on him, drenching his sweatshirt. He turned around on his heels and stalked to the bathroom. Uh oh.

Darry came out saying, "What's going on?" before he heard another scream . . . yup, that was definitely Steve's. I guess he sat on the toilet seat . . . that we greased with my hair grease! Whoops . . . I hadn't meant for Steve to get _all_ of the pranks played on him! Okay, so maybe I did, but this was priceless . . .!

Steve emerged several minutes later to our audience of laughter. I was laughing so hard that I could barely breathe. Steve was red in the face with a soaking sweatshirt on and his hair had fallen out of its intricate swirls of grease. He looked around at all of us before slamming the door to our room shut.

"That worked out better than I'd planned," Two-Bit said as he wiped tears from his eyes.

"You guys did this? Steve is going to _murder_ you!" said Darry. He looked up at the clock that hung in the cabin and said, "Oh God, it's time for lunch!"

Wow, I didn't know it was that late already. Time flies when you're pranking your worst enemy! Darry went into the "kitchen" and began making lunch. I got up from the table to pick up the bucket and set it in the corner. I'd like to see Steve _try_ to get back at us.

**Steve:** I don't like where this story is going  
**Pony:** I do! **-laughs-  
Two-Bit:** That was _my_ chocolate milk that he spilled!  
**Soda:** No it wasn't, it was mine!  
**Reham:** Those pranks were classic, weren't they?  
**Steve:** I still don't like them  
**Darry:** And I'm not cleaning up the mess you guys made  
**Johnny:** I'm using the downstairs toilet from now on  
**Dally:** And I'm going to watch out for flying buckets from now on  
**Reham:** Just wait until all the action happens in the next chapter **-cackles maniacally-  
The gang back away slowly, creeped out  
Johnny:** Um . . . can someone review?  
**Reham:** I'd like to thank my WONDERFUL reviewers! WOOT!

**insanechildfanfic --- LikeWoahhh --- Marauder and The Q ---TrunksgirlBlaze27 ---xodamhsaxo --- Maddiecake --- silverstagbeauty --- SamSammySamantha --- CrazyFoxDemon369 --- mrs.pepsi-cola**


	6. Rows and Blows

**Reham:** Warning: Earmuffs needed  
**Steve:** Yeah, I finally get to mash the little bastard's head in for all those MoFo pranks he did  
**Pony:** And I get to finally beat up Steve  
**Two-Bit:** And I - **-Reham puts hand over his mouth-  
Reham: **Oo-kay then. That's enough guys.  
**Soda:** This is a very dramatic section  
**Dally: -a couch magically appears and he sits on it, taking out a bowl of popcorn from behind him like you see in cartoons- **I'd better stock up for the show  
**Two-Bit**: I call the beer!  
**Johnny:** You can't get drunk yet! You're a big part of this story!  
**Darry:** No he's not!  
**Reham:** Shut up, Darry! Anything to get him to shut up!  
**-Two-Bit comes in with a chainsaw- (has anyone noticed a chainsaw is a BIG part of this story?)  
Steve:** What's the chainsaw for?  
**Two-Bit**: For shredding the table after you guys leave blood on it so that when the cops come, there'll be no evidence that Steve killed Pony and Pony killed Steve at the same time  
**Pony:** We'll see who kills who  
**Soda:** We'll see if someone even _gets_ killed  
**Reham:** I'm going to go take a shower  
**Steve:** I'm going to go take a show too  
**Soda:** Me too  
**Two-Bit:** Me three  
**Johnny:** Me four  
**Dally:** Me five  
**Darry:** Don't tell me you're all going in the same shower!  
**Dally: **Do you want us to? **-wiggles eyebrows-  
Everyone: **Pervert!  
**Reham: **For once, I'm so glad I don't own you guys . . . Tch . . .

…**:Rows and Blows:…**

**:Pony's PoV:**

Fifteen minutes later, Darry called us all for lunch. That was when Steve finally emerged from his room with a backpack on his back and in a sweatshirt. He has a jacket in his hands and I wondered where he was going to go. It seems that Soda's also wondering because he asked about it.

"I'm going to take a hike through the woods after lunch . . . _alone_," he added after seeing Soda open his mouth. "I just want to get some air and be alone for a while."

"Alright, fine with me," said Darry. "As long as you're back before dinner. By the way, we're having lunch outside this time, boys, so grab your coats and meet me out at the table over there."

I already had my heavy winter coat on so I helped Darry carry out the food to there. The snowing had ceased already and the day was getting to be beautiful. I sat down and waited for everyone to come before digging into my food.

Oh yeah, now I remember why everyone was staying away from the ketchup. We'd added a little prank with that too. I didn't like ketchup with my hotdogs so I just ate my hotdog. Two-Bit, Dally, and Johnny remembered what was in the ketchup so they stayed away from it. Soda was too busy helping himself to the orange juice and Darry was piling mashed potatoes onto his plate. And everyone knew Steve loved ketchup on almost anything. So I watched him reach for the ketchup and spread it all over his hotdog. Now everyone but Soda and Darry was watching him take a large bite of his hotdog . . . then spit it back out.

The ones who were in on the joke burst into hysterical laughter. We'd taken the bottle and filled it with red paint that I brought for drawing. It was a good thing we had extra ketchup. Steve was standing now and the look he was giving all of us was murderous.

"That's it!" he screamed, spitting the red paint onto the floor. His mouth looked like it was bleeding. "When is all of this bullshit going to stop?"

"Right now – that was our last prank," I said. I wish I hadn't.

"It was you all along Pony, wasn't it? You were the one behind all of these stupid pranks just so you could make it all worse? First the chocolate milk and now this?"

"Hey, I already said the chocolate milk thing was an accident . . . and I wasn't the only one that was behind this thing," I said.

"Stop bullshitting me! How the hell can a cup fly forward by a _slip?_"

"Guys come on – these pranks weren't hurting anyone," said Darry.

"Well they were hurting me!" Steve shouted.

"Hey, if you weren't such a stick in the ass then it wouldn't hurt you! But no, you have to go and take everything too seriously!" I was standing up now, looking at Steve directly in the eyes, but cringing slightly under his gaze.

"If you weren't such a damn tagalong boy who always wanted to be the center of attention, you wouldn't have come up with anything in the first place!"

"I only came up with this shit because I hate you!" Great, now he got me cussing.

"I've hated you since the day you started following me and Soda around! I hate you for being such a cry baby! You get everyone to care for you! You don't need it, God dammit! YOU'RE FOURTEEN FUCKIN' YEARS OLD!" yelled Steve. Everyone was staring at the two of us with wide eyes. I didn't give a shit.

"YOU WERE ALWAYS SUCH AN ASSHOLE, STEVE! IT AIN'T MY FAULT SODA ASKS ME TO GO WITH YOU GUYS!"

"WELL IT'S YOUR FAULT THAT YOU'RE AFRAID OF BEING ALONE ALL THE TIME! _AND_ IT'S YOUR FAULT THAT YOU ACCEPT THE DAMN INVITATION!"

"Guys . . ." Soda squeaked out, ". . . you don't mean all of this, right? It's just the hotdogs that are making you go crazy, right?"

"No it's not!" Steve and I screamed in unison. "Soda, I know you really like Steve and I try to put up with him, but I hate him with all my heart and right now, he's being such an ass!" I said to Soda.

"And I know he's your kid brother, but do you _always_ have to take him along everywhere?"

"You stay out of this, Randle," I snarled at him. "If I want to have a conversation with my brother, then God dammit, I'll have a conversation with him."

"Well if the conversation is about me, then I have every damn right to get in this!"

"Guys, calm down!" ordered Darry. We didn't listen to him.

"That's always you, isn't it, Steve? Always wanting to be the boss of everyone. Always wanting to get everyone's attention. Why don't you go jump of a cliff? Rot in hell for all I give a shit!"

"Drop dead," he snarled.

That was it. I had snapped. There was no way I was going to take this shit from Steve Randle. I lunged forwards at him, over the table, and we landed on the ground closest to the house's door. I started slugging him in the face. He grabbed my hands to prevent that, but I bit him and drew blood. He yelped and let go of me, allowing me to get a few extra punches before he rolled over so that he was able to start slugging me.

"Stop it!" Soda yelled, trying to pry Steve off of me. He was unsuccessful, though, because I could still feel Steve's fists hitting me in miscellaneous areas. "Steve," Soda pleaded, "please stop it! Please!"

It took the combined effort of Dally and Darry to pry Steve off of me. I was on the floor, breathing heavily with a bloody lip and nose and Steve was struggling to get out of the vice grip he was put in.

"Let me go!" he was screaming. "I'm gonna get him! I'm gonna get him!"

Soda looked like he was near tears. I didn't want to hurt him like that, but Steve was getting to be too much to take. Steve suddenly stopped his struggles and said, "Let the hell go, I won't go after him."

Dally and Darry let go and I was half expecting him to come and hit me, but he didn't. He walked up to the door and slammed it open. He later emerged with his bag that he was going to go to the woods with (and the paint cleaned from his mouth).

"Don't bother following me. I don't care who does, but whoever it is will come back to this cabin with a broken bone or three. I'll be back before ten," he snarled. Soda was going to stop him, but thought better of it, and Steve disappeared through the trees. Soda went to help me up, and as soon as he did, I ripped myself from his grasp.

"I'm going to get some firewood," I said before stalking off. Darry didn't even try to stop me. I didn't even care. I just wanted to get as far away as possible.

I went into the woods where Steve had disappeared, but I took a different path. I knew that the path was going to lead to the river, and that was where all of the good firewood was located, or so Dally said. I wasn't really aiming on getting any firewood. I just didn't want to be pestered with so many questions at once. I also didn't want to see Soda so depressed because I had just revealed my feelings about his best friend.

There was a rumbling somewhere near and I thought it was my stomach. After all, I didn't get to entirely eat my hotdog because of that recent quarrel. But then I realized that I wasn't hungry at all. The rumbling was coming from the mountains. I wondered if it was a growl, or some sort of rock that was going to tumble down. I looked up at the mountains and saw something I didn't really want to see. Snow was tumbling down at a fast pace and it looked deadly. Avalanche!

I tried running, but I had gone so deep into the woods that I didn't know which way was out and which way was deeper in. I just kept running. The snow was coming faster and faster. I knew I was fast, but I couldn't outrun it. It touched my feet, and then it all came down on me. The last thing I could usher was a long scream before I was completely sunken under.

XxXxXxX

**:Steve's PoV:**

What kind of bullshit was little kid grease giving me? All of these damn pranks and all of these stupid innocent acts – they were getting on my nerves! I just had to hightail it out of there! It was getting too much. I know that when I get back there, Soda was going to give me a punch, but then we'd forgive each other in the end . . . but what if he didn't? I didn't want to lose his friendship over his damn brother. That was another thing worth blaming Pony over! Damn, he was so annoying!

There was this annoying rumbling up in the mountains and I thought it was a rockslide. The big rocks usually stop halfway down or they break down into smaller rocks. I wanted to see this, so I stared up at the mountains . . . only to find an avalanche! Oh shit, I had to run. I knew there was no way to escape this, but I had to run. But which way? Wait . . . which way did I come through? Shit, now I was lost and I was going to die under an avalanche. This was not a way to lose your life.

While I stood there ranting, I heard someone scream. I didn't recognize the voice because my mind was too boggled, but I knew someone was in trouble, so I ran towards the scream. Big mistake. The snow swept me with it and I went down in darkness.

XxXxXxX

**:Dally's PoV:**

Finally, the two got their feelings out! At last! I knew it hurt Soda, but he had to know. He couldn't live his entire life with his best friend and little brother hating each other, but him never knowing. I put my hotdog down and looked around into the woods. Pony was going to come back soon because he was only wearing a coat and a long-sleeved shirt. It was going to get freezing out. Steve was smart enough to wear a sweatshirt and bring a coat with him. I swear, sometimes Ponyboy never uses his head.

We were all shocked. Two of our gang members just ran off into the woods. I knew Darry was furious, but he was keeping his emotions to a minimum. Soda was hurtin' on the inside and Two-Bit lost his smile. Johnny was just sitting there with his eyes wide.

And then there was this rumbling. I looked for the source and it turned out to be snow coming down the mountains. Oh, that's nice. Wait . . . snow coming down the mountains . . . an avalanche! Holy shit! And the guys were out there too! Darry saw it too because he said, "Everyone inside! Quick!"

Soda looked scared like shit and made a move to run into the woods, but I kept him back. There was no way in hell he was going in there to get pummeled. Steve was a big boy and he could handle himself . . . I wasn't so sure about Pony, though.

I had to half carry, half drag Soda inside. He was bawling by this time. God, I wish he'd stop. Darry locked the door and told everyone to stay inside.

"Ponyboy!" Soda cried. "Steve! Darry, they're out there! We gotta get them! We gotta get them!"

"We'll get them, Sodapop, don't worry. But we have to wait until the snow comes down to do that, otherwise you'll get taken under. We'll find them, don't worry baby," said Darry comfortingly. There was a thud at out door and Darry went to the window to see what happened. I went too because I had nothing better to do. But I couldn't see anything because there was too much snow.

"There's snow blocking the whole view!" I exclaimed.

Two-Bit ran upstairs to do only God knows what. When he came back, his eyes were wide. "We're caved in! The windows are filled with snow upstairs! We're _caved in!"_

Oh shit, there go our chances of finding Steve and Pony any time soon. That's exactly what Soda was thinking because he started crying harder. Damn.

**Reham:** Ooh . . . AVALANCHE!  
**Steve:** I swear, if you kill me, I'm going to kill _you!  
_**Reham:** How could you kill me if you're already dead?  
**Steve:** That's it. Two-Bit, hand over the chainsaw!  
**Two-Bit: -strokes the chainsaw, cooing-** No way! It's mine!  
**Steve: -sighs-  
Soda:** I'm not going to cry if I can't get to them . . . I'll just die  
**Darry:** Oh no you won't! You're helping me pay the bills!  
**Pony:** I wanna get out of this story. Replace me with Two-Bit. No one's going to care if _he_ dies!  
**Johnny:** I will  
**Dally:** Me too . . . there's no one to hand me a beer every morning.  
**Two-Bit: -sticks out tongue-** I'm more important than you are! I'm more important than you are!  
**Reham:** Shut up! I'd like to take a minute right now for silence, in remembrance to all of those who died bravely in the 9/11 attack. I know my friend's dad died. He was a great firefighter.  
**-Please wait a minute before reading the following-  
Two-Bit:** Whoo, now that that's over, please review!  
**-Gasp-  
Dally:** Two-Bit said Please!  
**Thanks to all my reviewers!  
****  
-CrazyFoxDemon369  
-uandme72  
-SamSammySamantha  
-silverstagbeauty  
-xodamhsoirxo  
-ivy45663  
-insanechildfanfic  
-TrunksgirlBlaze27**


	7. Surroundings

**Reham:** Woot! I have no idea how many more chapters until this story ends (I'm too lazy to count), but I'm sooooooooooooooooo happy that I've updated  
**Soda:** I hate you  
**Reham:** Well it isn't my fault your brother and best friend hate each other!  
**Dally:** Yes it is!  
**Darry:** Pft, no it isn't! It's S.E. Hinton's fault!  
**Soda:** Then I hate S.E. Hinton!  
**Johnny:** You can't hate her . . . she _made_ you!  
**Soda:** What's it to ya?  
**Steve:** If I have to go and save that motherfucker, I'm wasting your ass, Reham!  
**Pony:** If I'm saved by greaseball over here, I'm never going to live it up  
**Reham**:Aw, I can feel the love already!  
**Two-Bit:** Free hugs from Uncle Two-Bit! **-hugs Dally-  
Dally: -shudders- **What the hell was that for?  
**Two-Bit:** I love you!  
**Dally:** Reham . . . help?  
**Reham:** Never mess with a dude that's gay  
**Steve:** If Reham owned us, she'd make us gay  
**Pony:** That was the disclaimer if ya'll couldn't tell 'cause Stevie here is such a _great_ disclaimer! **-rolls his eyes-  
Steve:** Oh, like you could do it better  
**Pony:** Watch me  
**Darry:** We only need one disclaimer, thank you.  
**Johnny:** Review!

…**:Surroundings:…**

**:Steve's PoV:**

I didn't know what the hell the time was. I didn't know where the hell I was. And to add to that, I had this intense pain in my chest that hurt so much that I had to let out a yelp. The second I opened my mouth, snow filled it. I tried opening my eyes, but something was pressing so hard against them that I couldn't. And then I remembered the avalanche. I wondered how far I was under the snow. If I wasn't too far under, I would be able to dig my way out. I could only move my fingers for the time being, and I had all the time in the world with me, so I started digging with my fingers. After a while, I was able to turn my wrist. Then I was finally able to move my arms. I felt myself break through the surface and knew I wasn't too far under. I would have pushed myself up if my chest wasn't hurting so much, so I had to use my hands to take all of the snow off of me. When I was finally free, I took a gasp of air. I hadn't realized that I'd barely been breathing.

I stood up and realized that the pain from my chest was gone. It was probably only from the pressure of the snow. Dammit, where the hell was I? I could only see snow and some trees. I knew that the snow had carried me so far away because I couldn't even see the smoke coming from the chimney. I hoped the gang was alright. That reminded me of the scream – who had screamed?

I couldn't see any sign of life anywhere so I knew that the person who had screamed had been taken under the snow like I had. I began walking to God only knows where. It was better than staying in one damn place! I knew I could survive for a few days alone because I had packed some food in my bag: two water bottles, three chicken sandwiches, and a large bag of pretzels. I just happened to have the water bottles and the bag of pretzels in there – I think I left them in there instead of putting them in my closet.

Suddenly I realized that it was dark. How long had I been out? What if it had been days since the fight I had with Pony? I wondered if the gang was worried about me. I knew that damn little brat wasn't worried about me, but I wouldn't give a shit if he was dangling from a cliff and I was his last hope. I suddenly realized that I was walking towards nowhere.

I think I had been walking for an hour or so. I hadn't seen anything at all except trees and snow. Lots of snow. I wanted to save my food so I decided to only eat it if I was going to starve to death. It was at that moment that I tripped over something and landed in the soft snow. I looked around at what had tripped me and realized that it was the heel of a boot. It was the person that had screamed! The boot was black and Two-Bit, Dally, Pony, and I were the only ones that had brought their black boots. I started digging deeper into the snow to reveal a pair of jeans. Heck, everyone wore jeans. But the feet that belonged to the jeans were small. It was Pony.

Only a little bit of my mind was saying to leave him there to freeze to death. As much as I hated little kid grease, I couldn't let him die here. I mean, I'd probably let him die in a car crash, or at the blade of a Soc, but dying under an avalanche seemed so stupid. I quickened my pace as I shoveled bigger masses of snow off of him. After several minutes, I finally got him uncovered. He was unconscious and as cold as a Popsicle. He did resemble a Popsicle in some bizarre ways. I didn't care whether I had just argued with him or not. I would just make sure he was alive and then stop caring about him.

"Hey . . . hey kid," I said in his ear, shaking him roughly. He didn't move. "Wake up, Ponyboy!" I said louder. He finally stirred and opened his eyes.

"Steve?" he said quietly. His eyes were only half open, but when he saw me, they opened fully. "What do you want?" he snapped.

"Hey, you should be saying thanks, kid!" I said. "I just saved your damn life!"

I smirked at the way he lowered his head. He said a quiet 'thanks' and then looked around. "Where are we?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know? An avalanche took us all the way over here and I've been searching for an hour or so," I snapped in his same manner.

"This is great. This is just great!" he said. "It's all your fault!"

Oh no, he was _not_ going to pull this on me. "How the hell is it supposed to be my fault! I walked into the woods alone! It was your fault that you went, too!"

"You started the whole argument back there!"

"You started the pranks!"

"You started being an asshole again!"

"You _accidentally_ spilled chocolate milk onto me!"

"Look!" he said. "This is getting us nowhere! We're lost, it's freezing, and the gang is probably worried about us right now!"

That was true. But who said it was cold? Maybe it was because he hadn't used his head and only wore a jeans jacket and a long-sleeved shirt? Whatever it was, I wasn't giving a shit.

"Let's find a way out of this," he said. He got up and started walking around. When I didn't move, he said, "Are you coming or not?"

"Why should I listen to you?" I snarled. I was not going to take orders from a little kid.

"Because I have an idea!" he snapped back.

"And what would that be?" How was I supposed to believe him?

"The river, dumbass! The river flows away from our cabin so if we just follow the river in the opposite direction it's flowing, we'll be at our cabin!"

I silenced. I had never thought of that. The kid had chops. He had brains. He stalked away without talking to me again. I decided I should follow him since he knew what he was doing and I didn't. But if he was going to get me to apologize, there was no way I was going to do it.

We walked for hours without talking. I was starting to think that Pony was tricking me into doing something stupid. The darkness was slowly fading away as the sun rose. My legs felt like they were going to give way any second. It was a good thing that Pony's did first. He just suddenly collapsed into the snow. I couldn't care less.

"Are you duping me or somethin'?" I asked as I took a seat as well, happy to finally get a rest.

"The river . . . it's supposed to be here," he said breathlessly.

"Yeah, well it ain't. There's only trees and snow and now we're going to die out here," I said in an undertone.

"Shut up for a second, I'm trying to listen," he said.

I was about to open my mouth to give him a nasty comment in return, but I could hear it as well. It was a soft rushing noise that only a source of water could make. "The river!" we exclaimed at the same time. We ran in the direction the sound came from, suddenly forgetting our fatigue. I saw the water rushing up ahead. When we reached its bank, I noticed that the water had gotten murky. Wasn't it supposed to be so clear that you could drink from it?

"We must be far away," said Pony. "That's why the water is so murky. We must be extremely far away for this to have happened."

"At least we know where to start walking," I said. I looked at him and said, "You ain't so bad when you use your brains." I shut my mouth instantly. Had I just given him a compliment? Pony's eyes got slightly wider, but he didn't say anything. We sat by the river for a while, just resting. I laid on my stomach because I wasn't in the mood to discard my backpack just yet. That was when we heard a low growl from behind us. Both Pony and I turned and the instant we did that, we wished we hadn't. Out came a . . .

XxXxXxX

**:Johnny's PoV:**

I was sitting on a loveseat by myself, watching everyone. We were all silent for a while, just thinking about Pony and Steve. Darry suddenly spoke up. "I was wrong to go on this trip."

"You weren't wrong to go on this trip. I was wrong for agreeing to prank Steve," said Two-Bit.

"If anyone should be wrong, it should be all of us, except Soda," said Dally.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because none of us told Soda how Steve and Pony really felt about each other."

There was silence there. That was true. We all knew. Everyone knew except Soda, but we didn't want to tell him because we knew he'd be crushed. But now that the fox was out of the box, we were all feeling guilty.

"You knew?" Soda asked with wide eyes. "You guys knew, but you never told me?"

"We didn't want to hurt your feelings, Sodapop," said Two-Bit quietly. He'd lost his grin a long time ago, as did Soda. Soda had only recently stopped crying. We hadn't seen or heard from Pony or Steve since the fight yesterday. Now it was 7 in the morning.

"So much for the wonderful vacation," Darry said with a sigh. I agreed on the inside. This was supposed to be a good vacation without any troubles, but we were trapped in our cabin with two of our gang members out in the snow.

"We can only wait until the snow melts or until someone finds us."

"Gosh, I hope they're okay," I said quietly. And I knew that in everyone's mind, they were agreeing and praying . . . even Dally.

**Please read the poll down there!**

**Reham:** **-gasp-** Justin Timberlake's gettin' Punk'd!  
**Two-Bit:** Oooh! Oooh! I love that show! **-pause-** What's Punk'd?  
**Reham:** Shut up, I hate Justing but I LOVE Ashton Kutcher!  
**Steve:** Can we get back to the story?  
**Reham:** Did I _not_ tell you guys to shut up?  
**Darry:** Okay, we're going to do a poll here.  
**Dally:** Yeah, and whoever wins it gets the next chapter dedicated to them  
**Soda:** Hey Reham, do you agree with that?  
**Reham: -stares magically at the TV while Ashton Kutcher is being called an asshole by Justin-  
Johnny:** Let's leave her outta this  
**Pony:** Anyway, the poll isn't really a poll. More like a question. So what came out of the bushes behind Steve and Pony?  
**Darry:** Get it right and get a dedication.  
**Steve:** But think hard. What's in the mountains?  
**Johnny:** And don't forget to review!  
**Reham:** HAHAHA! That was soooo funny! Now do Frankie Muniz next!  
**Soda:** Frankie already came on, dumbass  
**Reham:** Are you questioning my authority?

**Thanks to my reviewers:**

**- mrs.pepsi-cola  
- SamSammySamantha  
- phoenix013  
- Maddiecake  
- DracosDefender  
- uandme72  
- silverstagbeauty  
- LikeWoahhh  
- xodamhsoirxo  
- CrazyFoxDemon360  
- insanechildfanfic**


	8. Running

**Reham:** I have updated this purely out of boredom  
**Soda: **Nope, she just doesn't wanna do her Algebra homework  
**Steve:** Or her English homework  
**Pony:** Or -  
**Reham:** Okay, okay, I think we get it! Anyway, I always want to hear your opinions  
**Two-Bit:** Did she mention that if you give in ideas, there's a 75 percent that she'll put them into this story?  
**Darry:** Yep, her ideas aren't good enough  
**Reham:** Shut up!  
**Dally:** Nope, I can picture that pretty much  
**Pony:** Wait, Reham, what're you doin'?  
**-The camera turns to face Reham, who is cramming Johnny's head into a blender-  
Johnny:** I wanted to know what flavor "Head" tasted like  
**Darry:** Um . . .  
**Steve:** That goes to show ya'll how sophisticated we are . . .  
**Reham:** It's so sad that we've gotta do the disclaimer right now . . .  
**The Gang:** You don't own us . . .  
**Steve: -muttering-** Thank God  
**Reham:** I HEARD THAT! Wait! I ALMOST FORGOT! First off, NO ONE got the poll correct! HAHAHAHA! You'll find out what it really is, although it's quite interesting that a lot of you chose mountain lions. But I'll have to dedicate this chapter to a great online friend for being so . . . .GREAT! I mean, what's another word to describe her? THANKS A BUNCH!

**Dedicated to mrs.pepsi-cola**

…**:Running:…**

**:Pony's PoV:**

Holy shit. My mind wasn't working properly. My brain was functioning sorely and I couldn't breathe. What came out of those bushes was something I didn't want to see. A paw stepped out . . . a white, spotted paw . . . then came another, and then a head. The head belonged to that of a snow leopard . . . and I knew we were in for it.

"Steve, don't move," I said quietly, barely moving my lips. I saw Steve go several shades whiter, but he obeyed me. That was unusual for Steve because he normally does something stupid at a moment like this. The snow leopard approached us. It looked at Steve and then at me, as if sizing us up. It started walking towards me and its face got so close to mine that I felt its hot breath. And suddenly, Steve did something stupid.

He lunged at the snow leopard and said, "Run, Pony, run!"

I didn't know why he was doing it. He had taken the snow leopard by surprise, but it wasn't going to stay down. Steve gave me a glare and told me to run and get help, but that didn't hide the genuine fear on his face. Fear? Was this the Steve Randle I was used to seeing? If Steve was afraid, then I should be. I turned around to run, but I lost my footing and I slipped. I was so stupid! And there I went, right into the river to be carried away. I struggled to stay above the surface, but I felt like an elephant. I was pulled under into another state of oblivion.

XxXxXxX

**:Steve's PoV:**

What are the chances of encountering a snow leopard while you're lost? I just lay on my stomach, not moving a muscle. Pony told me not to move a muscle. No shit? But I decided against answering. That snow leopard was getting pretty close. It looked at me and then at Pony. It probably thought Pony was defenseless because it got extremely close to his face. I knew the leopard was going to attack him. I wasn't going to let that happen, even if I did hate him. He had a whole life ahead of him. He could change. He could be whatever he wanted to be. It was at that moment that I realized I didn't hate him because he was a tagalong. I was jealous of him. He had brothers to look up to and to protect him. He had had loving parents. He had a life. He had an education and _he_ could change when he wanted to. It was too late for me. I had nothing. So if one of us had to die, it would be me. I did the stupidest thing I could have done. I told Pony to run away and I jumped onto the leopard.

I think I took it by surprise because it didn't move for a while. Pony was standing there like an idiot. Sometimes he just doesn't use his head. I told him to run again and what does he do? He slips and falls into the river. Excellent.

Well at least he was out of harm's way – I think. Now I had this damn leopard to worry about. I was on top of it, but that quickly changed. It threw me onto the ground with one lash out and it pounced on me. Its damn nails dug into my skin. It felt worse than getting stabbed with a blade. It put its head near mine to take a bite out of me, but I used my hands to keep its mouth open and away from me. What the hell was I thinking?

Now I put myself in an awkward situation. I was scared shitless at the thought of being eaten alive. But I did what my brain told me to do. I brought my knees to my chest and kicked that sucker off of me. To my surprise, it went flying back several feet. I thought it was going to fall into the river, but Lady Luck just wasn't with me. It turned back to me and growled low. That was my cue to hightail out of there.

I started running, but I was sure that I wasn't going to make it. I was running towards the direction Pony was dragged away in. I had to get to the kid. He was going to die in that water. I hadn't gotten a few feet away when I was suddenly launched forward. The snow leopard had pounced on my back. I landed hard on the floor and heard a sickening crack. Then came the excruciating pain and that confirmed that I had broken a couple ribs. Shit. I crawled out of the leopard's grasp and ran again, feeling every stab of pain. For some reason, the leopard wasn't chasing me. I looked back while I was running to see the reason, and it had retreated back into the bushes it spawned from. I stopped running to catch my breath. I don't know how Pony ran so much.

And then the pain came back. I lifted my shirt painfully to see purple bruises lining my left and right sides. Shit, I definitely broke some ribs. I started to breathe harshly when I suddenly remembered. Ponyboy!

"Pony!" I shouted. When I got no reply, I shouted again. "Ponyboy!" Still no answer. I started walking along the bank to see if the river ever ended. Something large was floating up ahead. It took me a while to figure out that it was Ponyboy, but when I finally did, I started running towards it.

The pain got sharper in my chest the further I went, but I had to catch up with Pony. He had a future for God's sake! I was gaining on him because the river's current was slower than my running. Finally, I could see his pale face bob in and out of the water. I ran further ahead of him and kneeled by the bank. Damn that hurt like shit. I outstretched my arm and groped for him. I fumbled with his drenched shirt a little, but I had it in a firm grasp. Painfully, I pulled him out from the water and just dumped him onto the bank. I had just wasted all of my energy. Not only was I tired and slightly wet, I was bleeding from eight different marks on my chest. Its nails must've been long to get through my layers of clothing.

I looked over at Pony. His eyes were closed and his face was drained of all of its color but total redness on his cheeks and forehead. "Pony?" I squeaked out. When he didn't answer me, I tried again. "Pony?" I crawled over to him and checked his pulse. He had a faint one. But something was wrong. He wasn't breathing. Oh shit . . . oh shit, oh shit, OH SHIT! What was I supposed to do? CPR?

"There is no way I'm doing mouth-to-mouth," I said aloud as I placed my hands together over the area of his heart. I counted to ten and then pushed fiercely down. I counted to ten again and pushed. One more time and then I checked to see if he had regained his breathing. He hadn't.

"Come on Pony . . . you can't die on me now!" I screamed as I pumped again. One time . . . two times . . . three times. On the fourth, he jerked forward, coughing up water. He was choking and I just hit him on the back for him to get it all out. After a while, he lay back. Poor kid was shaking so hard.

"Hey, it's okay," I said softly. I smacked myself mentally for using that tone on him. I still hated him . . . but that was slowly fading. Ponyboy didn't tagalong for the thought of annoyance, he tagged along because he was afraid.

"S-Steve . . ." he whimpered. I took off my backpack and put it under his head. He didn't deserve this. I was the one that was supposed to be like this. I was the one that should have been thrown into the river. I almost felt sorry that I had argued with him. But he was still an annoying tagalong . . . a misunderstood annoying tagalong.

"What is it?" I asked him, watching his attempt to open his eyes. He looked so stupid that I would have laughed if this wasn't a serious time.

"It hurts . . ."

"Where? Where's it hurt?" He was still shivering.

"M-m-my arm. It hurts like hell."

During his trip down the river, he'd lost his jacket. I don't know if it was so useful now. I slid back his drenched sleeve and cringed slightly, looking away and cursing quietly.

"I don't know if you should look, Ponyboy. I think you should turn away," I said as I started taking off my jacket. He closed his eyes and tilted his head backwards, deeper into the 'pillow'. I pulled off my sweatshirt, leaving me in my gray t-shirt. I left Pony there for a second to break off some branches from a tree. Mother Nature would have to kill me later.

"Look, I'm going to take off that shirt of yours, okay? You'll get sicker if you leave it on," I said. He nodded and I took his shirt off for him. Damn, that kid needed meat on him. I could see his ribs slightly. I wrapped my sweatshirt around his arm and used the sticks to stabilize it. Then I helped him into my jacket. It was either the kid freezes to death or I freeze to death.

There must have been something in that hotdog that's making me feel this way because I was supposed to be hating Pony. But there was no way that I could. There was more to this boy that I never knew. He just seemed helpless for a 14-year-old. "Do you feel okay now?" I asked.

He nodded his head lightly. Then he looked at my shirt and his eyes grew wide. "Steve, you're bleeding! And you're going to freeze to death!" I looked down at my shirt to see that half of it wasn't gray – it was red.

"It ain't nothing I can't handle," I said to him. Actually, my arms felt so cold that I thought they were going to fall off, and my ribs ached so bad that I thought my chest would explode, but I'm a greaser and that's just something we greasers don't do. "Now I gotta get you somewhere safe. Can you stand?"

Pony nodded his head and stood up. He swayed slightly, but he steadied himself. At least he didn't have a broken leg or anything. I stood up from my kneeling position, feeling the intense pain. I winced and Pony noticed.

"You're hurt," he said bluntly.

"No shit?"

"You ain't gonna make it anywhere like that. You're probably going to freeze to death or something."

"Pony, just give it up! Aren't you happy that you're safe?"

Sometimes this kid was so stupid that it frustrated me. He cares too much about other people. That was his problem. I bet not once he's ever cared about someone else!

"Sorry . . ." he said. I looked at him and realized that he had never acted his innocence. He'd always been truly innocent. We started walking some more and I couldn't take the silence.

"Look," I said with a sigh. "I – I'm sorry for fighting with you."

He stopped mid step. Why was me saying sorry so hard to believe? I thought I'd continue before he'd come up with some wise crack that he'd learned from Two-Bit. "I always thought you were a tagalong, y'know? I always thought that you just wanted the attention. And I – I guess I was wrong."

Shit, that came out harder than I thought it would. He sighed and started his part of the apology. "And I always thought that you were just a stick in the ass and that you were always trying to steal Soda away from me. But then I realize that Soda's probably the nearest thing to family for you. You don't have much of a fair life with your dad," he said.

"You dig okay, Pony," I said to him. I looked around the area and said, "All we have to do is find shelter."

**Reham:** Another exciting chapter?  
**Steve:** Personally, I hated it.  
**Pony:** Same here  
**Soda:** Aw, it's just 'cause Reham's got you gettin' along!  
**Pony: **No, it's because she broke my arm  
**Steve:** And it's because she made me _save_ him  
**Dally:** It ain't all bad. I mean, c'mon.  
**Reham:** And now, I have a large list of things to do at 10:18 pm (right now)  
**Darry:** Do your algebra and english homework  
**Pony:** Clean your room  
**Johnny:** Practice your saxophone  
**Two-Bit:** And watch more Mickey Mouse Classic Cartoons  
**Reham:** Actually, Two-Bit, it's "Watch more Boy Meets World", but you were close!  
**Johnny:** NOW REVIEW!

**I'd like to thank my reviewers:**

**  
-LikeWoahhh  
- xodamhsoirxo  
- Flag  
- Maddiecake  
- SamSammySamantha  
- jess  
-phoenix013  
- insanechildfanfic  
- Duranie for Life  
- uandme72  
- mrs.pepsi-cola (A LOT! FIVE STARS!)**


	9. Sick

**Two-Bit: **Your fans hate you  
**Soda:** You didn't update for a looooooooooooooooooooong time  
**Reham:** Well -  
**Dally: -rolls eyes- **And here comes the excuse!  
**Reham:** Well it's a good one! It's Ramadan and that means I have to fast for a whole month!  
**Pony:** Big deal. So you don't eat until 5:30, that's still no excuse  
**Reham:** Have you ever tried going through a whole school day -  
**Darry:** Your school got shorter by an hour 'cause of Ramadan  
**Reham:** Shut up, Darry. I was gettin' to the point. Anyway, I come home, sleep until 5:30, then eat to my heart's content, then do homework, the HAVE TO practice instrument, then sleep a lil' more, then I stay up until 2:30 in the morning so I can do something called "Soohoor" (eat before you can't eat no more), then I only get 3 hours of sleep! Beat that excuse!  
**Johnny:** I can! My grandma died  
**Steve:** No she didn't  
**Johnny:** Well it's a better excuse than hers!  
**Reham:** Uh oh, I gotta go real quick. My uncle's here  
**Two-Bit:** Rehamdoesn'townus!  
**Soda:** In a slower, more understandable language, Reham doesn't own us . . .

…**:Sick:…**

**:Pony's PoV:**

For once, I felt happy that I had Steve there. I felt a little guilty that Steve gave up both his jacket _and_ his sweatshirt, but he assured me that he was okay – which I knew he wasn't. He was bleeding like crazy, I knew he was freezing, and he kept wincing from something that I suspected as broken ribs. The brightness of the day had turned to night as we kept searching for shelter. We kept following the river, hoping to reach something.

Steve doubled over suddenly, his hands wrapped around his stomach. His breathing began getting harsher, but as soon as he stopped, he was going again. I felt extremely sorry for him. For once, we were getting along fine.

I saw his hand go to his bag and he pulled two things out. He handed me one of them. I unwrapped the foil to reveal a chicken sandwich. I looked at him, but he seemed to be avoiding my gaze as he devoured his own. I thanked him quietly and ate it slowly. Something large caught my eye. "Steve, look!"

He averted his gaze to where I was pointing. It was a narrow passageway, but it would be able to fit even Darry's muscles. "Do you think it's safe?"

"You stay here, I'll go make sure," said Steve. I could still see fear in the back of his eyes from the snow leopard, but he hid it in an instant. It was only a flash of emotion.

"But you're in no condition to go in there, Steve," I snapped at him in a caring way.

"And you are?"

Dammit, he had me there. I rested my back against a tree as I watched him crawl through the narrow space and disappear into the darkness. Seconds later, I heard him scream, followed by the unmistakable sound of splashing water.

"Steve! Steve, are you okay?" I asked. I was beginning to panic. What the hell happened to Steve?

"I'm alright, Pony! But this ain't no cave!" came his voice. It sounded strained. I walked on my knees to the entrance of the "cave" to see what had happened. I saw Steve's hand come up and the moon was reflected off of it. Was the moon supposed to be reflected off of skin? When I grabbed his hand to help him up, I found it wet. When he came up completely, I realized that his entire body glistened from the moon. His light gray shirt had turned darker. He was soaked!

"Steve! You're drenched in water!" I exclaimed.

"Thanks for stating the obvious," he said back. At least some of the Steve I knew was still there.

"You're going to freeze, or get pneumonia, or even hypothermia!"

"I'm f-fine Pony – really!"

He was trying to be tough. Didn't Steve know that he didn't need to keep up that front in my presence? Sometimes he was just way too stubborn. Steve was going to die if he didn't get warmth.

"Then take your jacket back," I said, beginning to unzip it with my good hand. He put one cold hand on mine to make me stop.

"You don't even have a shirt on under that. At least I have a shirt," he said.

"And what good is a shirt if it's gonna make you sick?"

"At least you ain't gonna be sick when we return to the gang."

I stopped trying to unzip the jacket. That was probably the nicest thing Steve had ever said to me. Did he really start caring about me?

"Come on, we've got to get there before you get sick. I can see the water clearing. We're almost there."

I helped him up and instantly I knew he was bad off. The day Steve Randle lets someone help him is the day the world comes to an end. We silently made our way across the river bank again. I had lied about the water getting clearer, but it didn't matter because you could barely see the water in the darkness. By the time it would become morning, we'd already be is the less murky areas of the river. I really hoped we got there soon because I could already hear a wheeze when Steve breathed. It was going to be a long journey.

XxXxXxX

**:Darry's PoV:**

Everyone in the cabin was trying to act as if nothing had happened . . . or maybe that was just me? I was going to go insane knowing that there was no way I can help Pony and Steve. We were caved in and there was nothing we could do about it. If only I had a shovel. I couldn't tell if it was night or day due to the snow blocking up the windows. Wait . . . go back to that sentence with the shovel . . .

"Dally, what did you say you found in your closet?" I said suddenly to the lump on the couch.

"Two shovels, why?"

I saw the lump sit upright and stare at me. He was thinking exactly what I was thinking. "And we can use the bucket, too, and anything else we got!"

I ran upstairs and knocked on Soda's door. "Sodapop, if you got anything in there that we can shovel with, meet me at the door."

Then I knocked on Johnny's room. When he quietly told me that I could enter, I turned the doorknob and went inside. Johnny was on his bed and was staring at the ceiling. I opened their closet to find two shovels in the corner of it. I threw one onto the bed and said, "We're going to save ourselves some greasers."

Johnny smiled and took the shovel happily. We went out of the room to meet Dally with a bucket, Two-Bit with a few pots, and Soda with a tin trashcan. I opened the door to meet a wall of snow.

"Two-Bit and Soda, you guys are going to go to the bathtub and leave the water on so we can melt the snow that we bring in. Dally, Johnny, and I are going to shovel the snow, you got it?"

"We got it," everyone said. And that began our tunnel to the outside world.

XxXxXxX

**:Pony's PoV:**

Night had gone to day and we were still moving. By the light of the sun, you could see that Steve had gotten so pale that it looked like he could blend in with the snow if he fell through it. He regulated his breathing and had to breathe through his mouth because he said it helped him breathe well. I knew that the real reason was because his nose was stuffed. His voice had gone raspy, too.

My theory from the other night was correct: by morning, the river water had cleared a lot so that it wasn't drinkable, but you could make out the small pebbles at the bottom. But Steve wasn't getting any better, and I feared for him.

We stopped for another snack and I got to drink some water. We shared the large bag of pretzels and then set off again. My arm started having this needle-like feeling to it. It felt like acupuncture. And then what I never wanted to happen just had to happen now.

Steve started coughing so violently that he had to stop and get down on his knees. His body started shaking feverishly.

"Steve, are you okay?" I damn well knew that answer.

I was expecting him to put up his front and say that he was okay, but he shook his head, his violent coughing now becoming incessant. And then it stopped. Just like that. I thought that he had made it stop, but it turns out that he had just fainted. "Oh my God! Steve, wake up!" I cried. I took the front of his shirt and started shaking him, but it was no use. His shirt was still soaking wet. I knew I should have given him my jacket!

I put my head to his chest to hear a heart beat and I got a faint beat in reply. I didn't like that. Then I put my hand on his forehead. He was heating up like an egg frying on a sidewalk on a hot summer's day! It was bizarre because his forehead was rising in temperature, but his body was as cold as the snow that encircled us.

"Please wake up, Steve!" I begged. I picked up one of his hands and began dragging him as a last attempt. His body was limp, but that wasn't making it any easier for me to drag him across the snow with one arm. It was extremely hard and I suddenly was wishing that I'd broken a few ribs like he had instead of a broken arm.

The whole thing was hopeless. Steve was going to die out here if he didn't get help. I wanted to be back under Soda's arms. I wanted to be back under the influence of Darry. I wanted to be the victim of Two-Bit's cruel jokes and Dally's glares. I wanted to be talking with Johnny. I just wanted to be in the comfort of _someone_ that wasn't unconscious and on the verge of death.

And that's when the pain in my arm blinded me. I fell to the ground, giving out a scream, but I knew it was hopeless. It was all hopeless. It was especially hopeless when darkness surrounded me.

**Reham:** Alright, so what's gonna happen?  
**Soda:** Did you like this?  
**Steve:** How come I passed out before he did?  
**Two-Bit: **How come I didn't think of the shovel thing?  
**Reham:** Remember, Ideas are always open to me  
**Dally:** Quick! Your uncle's here! Run before he gives you a noogie!  
**Pony:** Please review!


	10. Surprise Rescue

**Reham:** I have terrible, terrible news  
**Two-Bit:** Well, actually, it ain't all that terrible!  
**Soda:** Reham deleted her most recent Outsiders story (Error)  
**Reham:** I just wasn't feeling it. I didn't have a good plot and I hadn't thought about it  
**Darry:** And we all know that Reham feels that a story shouldn't be forced  
**Dally:** I didn't know that!  
**Reham: -rolls eyes- **You don't know anything  
**Pony:** Well what do you know, huh? I bet you don't even know 2 plus 2!  
**Reham:** Why you **-stops dead-  
Johnny: **Haha! You can't curse 'cause you're fasting!  
**Reham:** You guys are lucky for 20 more days, but then it's all hurt from there  
**Steve: -pulls out Dally's famous chainsaw- **Well it's all hell for you for twenty more days!  
**-The gang start edging towards her, trapping her against a wall. Reham wakes up in cold sweat-  
Reham:** That was the WORST dream I've ever had!  
**Steve: -pulls out chainsaw- **Who says it was a dream?  
**Two-Bit:** Dum dum duh . . . If she owned us, she wouldn't let us do this!

**JUST TWO MORE REVIEWS AND WE'LL REACH ONEHUDRED! I LOVE YOU ALL!**  
…**:Surprise Rescue:…**

**:Martha's PoV:**

Oh dear, Rick and I had been stuck in our house for the past couple of days, due to the avalanche that had locked us in. We'd just been able to get our door open. Rick and I were planning on going fishing in the clearer parts of the water.

For as long as I knew, Rick and I had been living up here in the snowy regions. We'd loved it up here and we were happily married. But now we were growing old - I was forty-nine and Rick was fifty. We needed to settle down a little bit.

"Come on, honey," I called to him. He was lacing his boots. I grabbed the fishing rods and he grabbed the bucket as we made it outside.

"It's going to be another great day, isn't it?" he asked me as we walked over the mounds of snow.

"I'm just glad to be out of that house. That's the third avalanche this month. I wonder if someone caused it. I think some people rented that house over by the mountains."

We were far from that house, and the clear water was close to ours. I think I remember there being two different areas of clear water – one near that cabin and one near ours.

We began walking for a while. We first had to get past the short distance of mucky water, and then came the semi-clear rivets. We were just about to finish our conversation on the best fish to catch and how to cook it when I spotted something unusual on the ground.

"Hey Rick, what's that?" I asked him, nudging him slightly. He looked in the direction I was looking at and seemed to notice the object as well. We walked forward a little more when we suddenly realized what it was – and there was more than one.

The object was a kid's jacket. I gasped at the sight. The kid looked to be about fifteen or so, if not, younger. He was pale white and his cheeks were rosy colored. What looked to be a sweatshirt was wrapped around his right arm.

The second boy looked absolutely horrible. He was paler than the other, but his cheeks and his forehead were cherry red. And what troubled me was that he was wearing a T-shirt! Half of it was soaked with blood, while the other half appeared soaked with water. He was going to die out here!

"Oh Lord Almighty, are they still alive?" I asked Rick. He bent down to listen to their heartbeats.

"They've both got faint beats. We'd better get them back to our cabin," he said. I nodded. He was able to carry the older boy without a problem – he was muscular for his age. I carried the smaller boy in my arms and he didn't give me trouble at all. We left our fishing equipment at the site – who was going to take them? And anyway, we had more equipment. What mattered were these boys' lives.

We got them back to the house without any trouble. We put the oldest boy on the long couch and the other on the other long couch. Rick ran to get the first aid kit. I wanted to know how these boys had gotten here. I hoped one of them would wake up. It didn't look like the oldest would wake up for a long time. Rick came back with blankets and the first aid kit.

"Rick, he's shivering," I commented as I placed the blanket around the oldest. Rick was a doctor – and still is, but he's on his vacation – so he knows about these things. He told me to take care of the youngest as he checked on the boy.

I took the first aid kit to the youngest. After taking off his jacket, he began shivering. I put the blanket around him, but not before undoing the sweatshirt. His arm was bruised purple and black and it was broken. I wrapped it with some bandages and located a medical sling to put it in. After that, I wrapped him in the blanket.

"Martha, this kid's got sub acute hypothermia. He looks real bad, but it can be healed in an hour or so."

I knew how horrible hypothermia could get. I left the youngest since he looked well off and went over to the other one. His breathing became rapid over time and I recognized it as tachypnea, one of the symptoms of hypothermia. He was shivering feverishly as well – another symptom.

"I'm going to turn on the bath. Watch over the two."

Rick always said that a person with hypothermia should be put in a bathtub with warm water and fully clothed. He ran to the bathroom on the ground floor and I heard the water turn on. I sighed and went to the kitchen to start cooking some food, just incase one of them woke up and needed food. But I knew that people with hypothermia shouldn't be given food, so I supposed that I was only cooking to feed the little one.

I saw Rick go to the living room and pick up the eldest in his arms. He then disappeared once again. I knew he wouldn't be coming back for a while. I poured the hard spaghetti into the boiling pot of water and stirred it around a few times.

"Mmm . . ." I heard someone mumble. I thought it was Rick, but that mumble was too low to be heard from the bathroom. I turned around from my stirring to find the younger boy turning on the couch. He turned from side to side and I thought he was going to fall off the bed if he didn't stop. I walked over to him and waited for him to wake up.

"Darry . . ." he mumbled. "Sodapop . . ."

I didn't understand. Did this boy want something to eat, or drink? Why had he just mumbled for dairy products, or a soft drink? I reached over to him and shook him gently in hopes of waking him. His eyes shot open and I was suddenly reminded of a raccoon I'd seen trapped in our basement.

"Where am I?" he asked, trying to sit up. I gently pushed him back down.

"Don't worry, you're safe in our home," I told him reassuringly. He didn't seem reassured in the least.

"How'd I get here?" he asked. "Who are you? What am I doing here?"

"Calm down and don't try to talk – you're still weak. My husband and I found you and your friend outside in the snow and we've taken you in to take care of you. My name is Martha Rey and my husband is Rick."

The boy looked at his wrapped arm and then back up at me. "I-I'm Ponyboy Curtis," he said in a voice barely above a whisper.

"That's a unique name now, isn't it?" I said with a smile. He seemed to smile as well, but that quickly faded.

"Where's Steve?" he asked sternly in a voice louder than before.

"Is he your friend?" When he nodded, I continued. "My husband is taking care of him. He has a light case of hypothermia."

XxXxXxX

**:Pony's PoV:**

I had to trust this woman – after all, who would take in a couple of greasers and patch them up? But what really worried me the most was when the woman had told me that Steve had a light case of hypothermia. I had warned him – and I could have prevented it as well. But it was light, right? So it was good . . . right?

"How did two boys like you end up in the snow like that?" she asked me.

I gulped slowly before answering. I told her the entire story and how we were following the river to get to the clear water near our cabin and the story of the leopard and when I came out of the water. I had just finished telling her about my plan for the clear water when she said, "Oh you poor dear! You must have gotten confused on your way because the river was flowing to us! There are two areas of clear water and you were following the opposite!" I felt stupid at that exclamation. The lady let me continue. I finished the story right where Steve had fainted and then me.

The lady smiled slightly and said, "Steve must care deeply for you."

"Huh?" I asked, confused. Steve didn't give a hang about anything or anyone, maybe Soda, but definitely not me!

"Well, he let you have his jacket and his sweatshirt, didn't he? He walked around in a T-shirt, endangering himself to the cold, just to let you gain warmth. And when he went down in that cave before you, he was making sure that the cave was safe for the both of you. And if it wasn't, he made sure that he experienced the danger instead of you. See what I mean?"

I nodded slowly, thinking. Steve had really cared about me. He had put himself in danger just to keep me out of it.

The lady's husband came back and said, "He should be warming up right now. Why, hello! Who do we have here?"

"Rick, this is Ponyboy Curtis." The lady then began to give a short summary of what had happened. Rick sat down, nodding his head.

"Well Ponyboy, do you know the number to your cabin?" he asked.

My eyes lit up. Of course, how could I have been so stupid? I could call Darry and tell him that I was okay! I nodded my head and Rick handed me the phone. I punched in the cabin's numbers, glad that Darry had made me memorize it. I waited for a while before someone finally picked up.

_"Hello?"_

It was Johnny's voice! "Johnny?"

_"Yeah, who's this?"_

"It's Ponyboy!" I exclaimed.

_"Ponyboy? God, where are you? We were all so worried! We're trying to dig out of our cabin because that avalanche snowed us in and we're all going crazy! Are you okay?"_

"Yeah, I'm fine. Is Darry or Sodapop around? Can I have one of them?"

_"Yeah, hold on!"_

I could hear someone scuffle over and then take the phone, saying, _"Who the hell is calling us in the middle of nowhere?" _It turned out to be Darry's voice.

"Darry, it's me!" I exclaimed once again.

_"Ponyboy! Where are you? Are you okay? Are you with Steve? What happened? How –_"

"Darry, I'm fine," I said with a grin. "Steve's with me and these kind people took us in. We're okay right now, but Steve's got hypothermia and my arm is broken, but we're still fine."

_"Can I speak with these people?" _asked Darry.

"Yeah, hold on," I said. I turned to the man and said, "My older brother wants to speak to you, sir."

"Just call me Rick," he said before taking the phone from my good hand. I sat in silence while he talked to Darry. After a while, he said goodbye and hung up. He turned to me and said, "He says he'll be here in an hour. Meanwhile, do you want something to eat? I bet you haven't eaten for a while. We found that backpack that your friend had, but it just contained wrappers."

I had told Steve to put the wrappers in the bag. It was bad to litter. I nodded my head slowly, glad for the invitation of food. Martha had set out a wonderful meal and I thanked her quietly when I was done. I couldn't help but think how Steve was going to be with every bite of macaroni that I ate. I hoped he would be okay – after all, he had saved my life.

**Reham:** Hey ya'll, those of you that have me on your Author Alerts, you'll get an alert saying that I've made a new story, but don't open it, 'cause it's in the Power Rangers category!  
**Two-Bit:** And I thought watching Mickey Mouse was deranged! **-cocks one eyebrow-  
Reham:** It is, but I'm not afraid to admit that I love Power Rangers, even though I'm waaaaaaaaay too old for it and I know everything in it's fake  
**Steve: -opening book- **Oooh . . . look, it's her diary!  
**Reham:** I don't have a diary! I've never had a diary!  
**Dally:** Looks like she's got a crush on someone . . . _Jessica Alba?  
_**Soda:** Thats not her diary! **-snatches book-** That's MINE! **-stalks off-  
The gang: -stare in silence-  
Johnny: **Please review!

**Ack! Last Time, I forgot to thank my reviewers! I'm sooooooooooooo sorry! So here they are:**

**- arrgil (yes, I AM scared)  
- ivy45663  
- CrazyFoxDemon369  
- SamSammySamantha  
- mrs.pepsi-cola  
- TrunksgirlBlaze27  
- Cutiepie2191  
- xodamhsoirxo  
- Maddiecake  
- Duranie for Life  
- insanechildfanfic  
- uandme72  
- DracosDefender  
- phoenix013**


	11. Waking Up

**Reham:** I can't believe it!  
**The Gang:** Neither can we!  
**Reham:** I was so caught up in this story that I didn't realize that this is the **LAST CHAPTER!  
Two-Bit: **Woot! We get to see Steve die!  
**Steve:** Why does everyone keep thinking I'm going to die! **-tackles Two-Bit-  
Soda: **Helloo! Don't you think we should be worried that this is the LAST CHAPTER EVER?  
**Reham:** Yeah, this is my best (and favorite) story! It's gotten so much progress! (Over 100 reviews - one of my firsts!)  
**Pony:** Okay, okay, enough chitter-chatter! I wanna see Steve die!  
**Soda:** I'll miss ya buddy!  
**Steve:** I'M NOT GOING TO DIE!  
**Johnny:** Too bad!  
**Dally:** Get on with the stinkin' story!  
**Reham:** I'll put everything at the bottom. Please review!

…**:Waking Up:…**

**:Steve's PoV:**

Everything was just so cold. Everything. My arms, my chest, my legs, my feet. I couldn't move. I didn't even want to move. For some reason, I couldn't even breathe correctly. My breath came out in rapid gasps. My heart felt like it was beating faster than it should be. I tried opening my eyes, but I failed miserably. And that's when I felt the sensation of water all around me. I thought I was drowning, so I screamed.

I heard feet around me, but that didn't stop me from screaming. I could still feel the water around me. I tried opening my eyes again, but I still couldn't.

"Calm down, son. You're alright," I heard an unfamiliar voice say. Who the hell was saying that? And how could I calm down? I couldn't move, I couldn't feel my muscles at all, and I was drowning! No way in hell was I going to calm down, but I stopped screaming.

For some reason, I still couldn't control my breathing, and my heartbeat just got faster and faster. I felt someone's hand on my chest and I wanted to lash out on it, but I couldn't move a muscle. And that hand was giving me a slight sensation of warmth, but whose was it?

"Steve?" came a quiet voice. I knew that voice, but I couldn't quite place my tongue on it. "Steve, it's okay. It's me, Ponyboy. Can you hear me?"

Ponyboy! I had never been so glad to hear him in my life. I tried opening my eyes in a last attempt and finally managed to pry them open. The room was blurry and there were three outlines in front of me. I noticed that I was in a bathroom and I wasn't drowning at all – I was just in a bathtub filled with water. I saw Pony smile, but I couldn't return it.

"P-Pony . . . I c-c-can't m-move," I said. My voice sounded distant to me, and I couldn't say a straight sentence without stuttering because I was shivering so badly. Why couldn't I stop?

"Why can't he move?" I heard Pony ask someone. I think he was asking the other two outlines behind him.

"That's what happens when you have hypothermia. Because he's so cold, he lacks the ability to move his body," someone said. The voice was deep, so I recognized it as a man's.

"Can we get him out of the bathtub?" asked Pony.

"Not until he can move."

Dammit, I could have beaten these peoples' head in if I was able to move, but seeing as I couldn't, I just sat there. The two unfamiliar outlines left, so all I was able to see was a blurry outline of Ponyboy. His hand was in a sling.

A sense of warmth flooded around me and the coldness started to go away. At first, the water had seemed cold, but then it was slowly becoming warmer and warmer. I relaxed slightly, but I was still shaking, breathing hard, and my heart was still beating 100 miles per hour.

"Those people saved us," said Pony. I blinked a few times to show him that I was listening and let him continue. "They patched me up and that guy, he's a doctor. Martha told me while I was eating. They won't let you eat, though, because they say that it's bad for someone who has hypothermia. I called Darry and he said that he's going to be here anytime soon."

"Y-y-you aren't h-hurt bad, a-are you?" I asked, immediately slapping myself mentally for asking such a question.

"Thanks to you I'm not. You saved my life out there," he said to me. I grinned on the inside, a sense of triumph overcoming me. I had wanted to save him because his life was worth more than mine, and that's exactly what I did. We sat in comfortable silence for a while. My breathing started to ease, as did my heart, but I couldn't help myself with the shivering.

I heard a doorbell ring and Pony exclaimed, "They're here!" before running out of the bathroom. I heard several voices outside, then someone whooping. There was more talking and I knew that the entire gang had come, probably because I heard Two-Bit's maniacal laughter.

A few minutes later, I felt the sensation come back in my hands. I clenched and opened my hands several times, but I couldn't do it too quickly. I let my head fall under the water, just to calm myself down. My breathing had returned to normal and my shivers subsided slightly. The door opened while I had my head underwater, and I heard Soda's voice say, "I don't see him."

I put my head up as quickly as I could, glad to see my friend again. I had regained the feeling in every area of my body, so I was able to turn my head to look at him. He grinned and said, "Stevie!" I could see dry tears glittering on his face from the light.

"H-hey Soda," I said. My voice was still harsh and raspy.

"I was so worried about you guys! Pony's doing fine, but what about you? You don't look too good!" he said, taking a seat on the floor beside me. I tried standing up, sick of the bathroom. My clothes stuck to me, but I didn't care. Soda helped me out, knowing that I wasn't one and all for the thought of being in that bathtub all day. I could tell he was resisting the urge to hug me or something like that because of the way he kept rocking back and forth on the heel of his toes.

He set me down on the edge of the bathtub and told me to wait right there. I rested my body against the wall and kind of zoned out for a minute or two. Soda came back in with a pile of clothes in his hand. He handed them to me and said, "Darry said that we should bring a change of clothes for you and Pony. Here's yours. Call if you need anything."

I nodded in appreciation and he left the room. I struggled to put on my clothes because my muscles ached so horribly and I couldn't help but make my movements slow. I wondered if I still had hypothermia or if that guy had cured it. I wondered what hypothermia was in the first place!

I opened the door slowly and walked out . . . slowly. Everyone was sitting in the living room, chatting with one another. Ponyboy was wrapped around Darry like he was holding onto him for dear life. I wish I had a brother like that to look up to, but all I had was a drunken dad and a mom that walked out on us when I was too little to remember her.

"Stevie-boy!" said Two-Bit as he came flying off of the couch. He was about to run up to me and tackle me, but Dally tripped him and he landed flat on his face at my feet. We all burst into laughter, even me. Two-Bit looked up from the ground and said, "How ya been lately?"

"I'm just fine," I said, glad that my voice had regained its posture.

"You had us all real worried," said Darry.

Wow – the gang had actually worried about me. I bet they were worrying about Ponyboy more, though. I didn't really matter to them.

"We should be going now," said Darry, getting up with Pony still hooked onto him.

"No, I insist you stay," said the unfamiliar lady. I walked behind the couch and leaned forward onto it.

"We really must be going. We've got a lot of packing and cleaning up to do because we've only got a day left at the cabin," Darry insisted.

I really didn't care whose cabin we were to go to – I just wanted to sleep. Being unconscious wasn't the same as sleeping. The entire gang said goodbye and Darry thanked them for the thousandth time (Soda had told me) and we were on our way to the cabin. The large mounds of snow had melted slightly, so it was easier to walk on. I had to lean on Soda a bit as I walked. He had one of my arms around his neck. We were the last ones in the line of walking. Darry was carrying Pony because he had fallen asleep.

"Hey Steve," said Soda as we walked.

"Yeah?" I asked quietly.

"I wanna thank you for taking care of my little brother, you know? He told us all about how you'd given up your jacket and sweatshirt for him, and how you'd made sure he was out of harm's way, so thanks."

I grinned sincerely as we kept walking. Every time I took a step, a sharp pain would crawl up my chest and I'd wince slightly, but Soda wouldn't notice. I had forgotten that I had broken a few of my ribs.

After a while of walking, Soda finally noticed me wince. "Are you okay?" he asked with genuine worry on his face.

"I just busted a few ribs back there – did Pony tell you about the leopard?" I told him.

"Yeah, and it got you good, didn't it? When we get back to the cabin, I'll make Darry wrap you up and then you can get some rest, okay?"

I nodded my head, zoning in and out. When we had made it to the cabin, Soda helped me up to my bed and set me down on it. He ordered Darry to come and have a look at my ribs. Darry told me that my sides were bruised purple and black and that I'd broken four ribs. I cursed a string load as he wrapped me up. It was painful, but he was out the door before I knew it.

Ponyboy was on the other bed. I turned my head to him and I noticed that he had been watching me. I grinned at him. We'd finally been able to get along.

In unison, we said, "Thanks."

**:Narrator's PoV:**

That was the blossoming of a new, firmer friendship. They didn't have to pretend to like each other because they were in Soda's presence. They liked each other just because of their experience in the snow. They were friends now, and it would only take death to change that.

Pony had learned that Steve wasn't as bad as he thought. He learned that Steve was hard as a rock because he didn't have anyone that cared about him but the gang. He didn't have anyone to look forward to everyday but Soda, and so he wanted all the time in the world he could have with Soda. Pony learned to give Steve some of that time, but in the future, Steve began inviting Pony with him and Soda instead of Soda giving the invitations.

Steve had learned to be kinder to Ponyboy. He didn't get out much because Darry had always wanted him to be perfect, so he looked forward to Soda's invitations. He learned that he was jealous of Pony all along because he had an actual future, but Pony loved his brother so much that he wanted to spend every waking moment with him.

And that's when it hit them both. Without Soda, they'd both have nothing to look forward to. Their lives revolved around the care for one person:

Sodapop Curtis.

_I see them everyday_

_We get along so why can't they?_

_If this is what he wants_

_And it's what she wants_

_Then why's there so much pain?_

_So here's your holiday_

_Hope you, enjoyed this time_

_Gave it all away_

- Stay Together for the Kids – Blink 182

…**:PAU:…**

**Reham: -wipes away tears- **That was beautiful!  
**Soda:** Aw, Steve didn't die . . .  
**Steve:** What's that supposed to mean?  
**Soda:** Nothin' buddy . . . hehe . . .  
**Reham:** I hoped you guys learned that just because Pony said he DIDN'T like Steve in the book, doesn't mean everyone in the world should hate him  
**Pony:** Yeah, I said I didn't like Dally much either  
**Dally:** Really? I'll have to read that book sometime  
**Two-Bit:** Yeah, Stevie-boy ain't that bad of a character **-puts one hand on Steve's shoulder-  
Steve: -flips Two-Bit- **I can be!  
**Reham: **I'd like to thank my reviewers . . . all of you guys are so loyal! Thanks a bunch! Seriously! As saddened as I am to see this go, I'm going to have to. And I'll probably be off of the Outsiders for a week or so, thinking of stuff and waiting for those cute little plot bunnies to reproduce! But for those of you that care, and are as big of a Boy Meets World fan as I, then you should probably check out my **New Boy Meets World Story **called **Death Toll**. Peace n' Mahalo, ya'll!


End file.
